Songshan landing fees may rise 30%: CAA

The landing fee adjustment proposal has been submitted to the MOTC for screening, and will be put into practice once it is approved by the MOTC. But the proposal will be valid only through the end of 2014, CAA officials said.

So far, uniform landing fees have been collected by all local airports, but the fees will depend on the level of activity at the airports. As Songshan airport is almost at full capacity, the CAA has proposed a 20- to 30-percent hike on landing fees for international flights using the airport.

Under the proposal, the landing fee for an A330 airplane at Songshan airport, for instance, will be boosted to NT$53,000 from NT$41,300, with each passenger having to pay NT$179, up from NT$138. But airline firms said that they won't boost flight ticket fares despite the planned hike on landing fees.

By contrast, landing fees for Taichung International Airport and Kaohsiung International Airport will be slashed by 10 percent. For every additional flight landing at both airports, the landing fee will be cut by 50 percent. In case an airline firm operates an additional 30 to 70 flights at the two airports, a 70-percent reduction on landing fees will be offered.

Meanwhile, the landing fees for existing international flights to the Hualien and Taitung airports in eastern Taiwan, Chiayi and Tainan airports in southern Taiwan, and the offshore Makong and Kinmen airports will be axed by 50 percent, and any additional international flights to the six airports will be exempt from landing fees, according to the CAA proposal.

CAA statistics showed that aggregate annual landing fees collected by the aforementioned nine airports amount to NT$460-470 million, and an additional income of NT$30 million is expected a year after the CAA proposal is enforced.

Transportation Ministry Mulls Hiking Taipei-Taitung Fares

In related news, Transportation and Communications Minister Yeh Kuang-shih said yesterday that his ministry will weigh a CAA proposal to hike ticket fares for flights between Taipei and Taitung.

Yeh made the remarks when attending an inauguration ceremony for a new railway station on the Hualien-Taitung railway, in response to a suggestion made by Lawmaker Liu Chao-hao, of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, that the Taipei-Taitung flight ticket fares shouldn't be hiked.

The CAA is slated to submit the flight fare adjustment proposal to the MOTC for approval in March. But Lawmaker Liu said that Taitung city has been plagued by poor transportation and medical resources, forcing residents to take flights to receive medical treatment in northern Taiwan. Accordingly, he continued, any flight fare hike enforced before the transportation and medical systems are improved is unfair to residents in the eastern county of Taitung.

In response, Yeh said his ministry will take Liu's suggestion into serious consideration.

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