TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport closed its southern runway for annual maintenance at 10 a.m. on Sunday (March 3), causing significant delays.
Runway repair is scheduled to last for 54 hours, concluding at 4 p.m. on Tuesday (March 5). Passengers are advised to check their flight information before departing for the airport, per UDN.
Eva Air flight BR708 departed Guangzhou on time and was scheduled to arrive at Taoyuan International Airport at 11:25 a.m. on Sunday (March 3). After circling in the air waiting to land, it was ultimately diverted to Kaohsiung International Airport, where it landed at 2:23 p.m.
Six flights were diverted to Kaohsiung after circling in the skies around Taoyuan Airport on Sunday. Taoyuan International Airport Corporation (TIAC) said airlines were given advance notice about routine runway maintenance through NOTAM (notice to airmen), though some were still caught off guard.
Passengers expressed their dissatisfaction with delays caused by the runway closure. A popular Facebook group, Taiwan Air Ticket Community, said that flights IT254, SL394, and MM28 were suddenly canceled on Sunday (March 3). Another commentator said that from the observation deck, he saw 20 aircraft lined up for takeoff at the airport’s lone operating runway.
Another netizen complained that boarding a flight to Hong Kong was delayed from 4 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. on Sunday (March 3). Others sat aboard a plane for four hours before the flight was eventually canceled on Sunday.
KMT Legislator Wang Hong-wei (王鴻薇) said the delays caused by annual maintenance were an indication of poor management of the airport. She said Taoyuan Airport ranked 13th in the world in 2019, though its ranking has continuously plummeted, dropping to its current position of 82nd.
Wang said that short flights to Hong Kong now require as much travel time as those to Japan. She worried that travel delays could continue on Monday and Tuesday (March 4–5).
TIAC admitted delays caused by the first day of runway closure on Sunday and promised to reduce the time for airplanes awaiting landing. As a precaution, China Airlines said it would begin carrying extra fuel aboard its planes.
