Gov't vows review as Taoyuan airport disruption continues for 2nd day

Taipei, March 4 (CNA) The Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) on Monday vowed to conduct a "review" after preplanned maintenance work caused a second day of mass flight disruption at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

The airport's southern runway, one of two at the Taoyuan airport, has been closed to air traffic since 10 a.m. on Sunday for annual maintenance work planned since the end of last year.

Despite having several months to adjust scheduling at the airport, only 53 percent of Sunday's 698 flights were on time.

Among the disrupted flights, 14 percent experienced delays of under 30 minutes, 11 percent 30-60 minutes, 12 percent 1-2 hours, and 10 percent over two hours, according to statistics provided by the airport.

Deputy Transportation Minister Lin Kuo-shian (林國顯) told CNA that a "lack of consideration" had led to worse-than-expected disruption.

According to Lin, the scope of this year's annual maintenance was larger than in previous years, when the runways were closed for only a few hours rather than several days.

Lin said that related parties had discussed the maintenance since November 2023 and scheduled it for early March to avoid affecting peak traffic during the Lunar New Year holiday.

The deputy minister, however, pointed blame at other parties for the disruption, including the MOTC-funded Taoyuan International Airport Corp.

Lin said that the airport operator as well as airlines had failed to make comprehensive adjustments to accommodate the construction work, and also failed to realize that traffic was heavy, with more than 600 flights every day.

To minimize further disruption, Transportation Minister Wang Kwo-tsai (王國材) said maintenance operations would be "sped up" and completed by Monday midnight -- 16 hours earlier than scheduled.

Update: Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport reopens southside runway (05R/23L) at 9 p.m. Monday

In addition, flights departing for the Taoyuan airport will be asked not to depart too early, if possible, as there will be air traffic controls at the Taipei Flight Information Region, Wang said.

Meanwhile, Taoyuan International Airport Corp. President Fan Hsiao-lun (范孝倫) said the airport operator had invited airlines, flight control units, the local pilot's union and ground staff to discussions about the maintenance operation every month from November last year until February this year.

A NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) had also been issued on Feb. 21 to the airlines so that they could cope and adjust, he said.

Peak traffic at the airport on Monday is expected at around 11 a.m., during which the Air Navigation and Weather Services would ramp up control measures and the airport would adjust depending on current situations, Fan said.

The maintenance of the northern runway, scheduled for the later half of the year, will also be arranged based on this experience, Fan added.

Lin also agreed with the public opinion that members of the public should also be notified about maintenance plans, instead of only notifying airlines. In the future, the Taoyuan airport would be required to notify the public in advance, he said.