TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Kaohsiung needs an airport to operate 24 hours a day in order to match its future economic development, Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said Wednesday.

He added its existing Xiaogang International Airport could undergo changes to meet the requirements of the southern city’s growing economy, though a new airport is also a possibility. Budget airlines are already using the evenings to land or take off, limiting operations for cargo flights, Chen said.

He added that if the airport could extend its operations to 24 hours a day, it would encourage more technology firms to add plants in south Taiwan, per CNA. An alternative to converting Xiaogang would be to build a new airport on land reclaimed from the Taiwan Strait, the mayor said.

A site in Nanxing District could be linked to the rest of Kaohsiung by the Mass Rapid Transit System’s Red Line and by Freeway No. 7. 

Chen said balanced development between the north and the south required the new airport to take the pressure off Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, where freight traffic was approaching saturation.