Taipei, March 14 (CNA) Air passengers who transit at an airport in Taiwan will be required to pay a NT$500 (US$16.30) facility fee per person from March 31, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) announced Tuesday.
The fee will be collected by airline companies on the government's behalf -- either as part of the airfare or at the airport -- the MOTC said, adding that passengers who end up not transiting can apply for a full refund.
Han Chen-hua (韓振華), deputy head of the MOTC's Department of Navigation and Aviation, said the government decided to charge the fee following increasing operational costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic and a growing number of construction projects at the airport.
Under the new policy, Taiwan could collect up to NT$550 million in facility fees this year as it expects about 1.2 million foreign transit passengers in 2023, roughly 6 percent of total passengers.
Most of the money will go to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the country's main gateway, as it handles about 99 percent of the country's transit passengers.
The fee is also in line with global standards, Han said, citing the International Civil Aviation Organization's policies on charges for airports and air navigation services.
Several benchmark airports in the region, such as Hong Kong International Airport, Narita International Airport in Japan, Incheon Airport in South Korea and Singapore Changi Airport, have all begun charging transit passengers an airport usage fee, according to the MOTC.
The fees they charged, converted into new Taiwan dollars, are about NT$925, NT$250, NT$360 and NT$200, he said.
Meanwhile, Han expressed optimism about air travel in Taiwan this year, as Taoyuan airport handled 4.09 million passengers between January and February. That compares to 20,000 passengers for the first two months of 2022 and is 52 percent of the pre-COVID-19 level in 2019.
