CCK Airport Sees Passenger Load Hit Record High of 1.8074M. in 2013

Ching Chuan Kang (CCK) Airport, an international airport in central Taiwan, witnessed an annual rise of 13.5% to 1.8074 million passengers in 2013, the highest on record, of which the number of domestic airline passengers rose 5.17% to 714,200 and that of international lines surged 33.31% to 798,600, with the latter exceeding the former for the first time.

However, the number of passengers on cross-strait routes declined, for the first time, by 6.26% to 294,400 in the same year.

A senior official at CCK indicates that the airport expects passengers to rise to two million this year. The airport handled last year 22,000 flights, higher than 2012's corresponding figure of 19,700, with  major international destinations including Hong Kong, Macao, Vietnam's Ho Chi Ming City, Hanoi, and Can Tho; South Korea's Seoul, and Japan's Okinawa and Osaka.

The Civil Aeronautics Administration plans to invest NT$708 million (US$23.6 million) to enlarge CCK Airport to meet the foreseeable growing passenger loads, aiming to handle annual passengers of  3.05 million after the expansion is completed within five years. (JL)