Songshan Airport to Build a Business-Flight Center

Taipei, Oct. 27, 2010 (CENS)--In a bid to develop commercial-flight business, Songshan Airport will solicit public bids for the construction of a business-flight center, a plan which has attracted the participation of five contenders, including China Airlines, Eva Airways, TransAsia Airways, Chung Hsing Airline, and Huajie Commercial Airline of Hon Hai Group.

The projected business-flight center will be furnished with independent parking apron, hangar, and terminal, in an area spanning 600 pings (one ping equals 36 square feet) of space, which now houses the crew center of China Airlines and a hangar of the air force. It will be able to accommodate eight to nine business jet aircrafts, such as Gulfstream G550 business jet, up from six now.

Cheng Chung-chien, business section chief of Songshan Airport, pointed out that in view of the need of business-flight passengers, mostly business executives, for privacy and rapid customs clearance, the projected center will have independent simple customs-clearance and quarantine facilities, sparing such passengers from the need to line up for the procedures, along with other passengers.

An official of Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA), under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC), remarked that some business jets now using Taoyuan Airport may transfer to Songshan Airport, thanks to the latter's location inside Taipei City. The official noted that Songshan Airport may develop into a regional or even international business-jet flight center, due to the downtown location, an advantage denied to most other airports in the region, except Shanghai Hongqiao Airport.