TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As passenger traffic during the first quarter reached 54% of pre-pandemic levels, Taoyuan International Airport was projecting 28 million people passing through during all of 2023, reports said Friday (April 21).

Taoyuan International Airport Corporation (TIAC) registered 6,546,250 travelers at the airport in January-March, a 22-fold increase from the same period last year, Radio Taiwan International (RTI) reported. Taiwan reopened its borders to international tourism and ended most COVID-19 travel restrictions last October.

The figure of 2.44 million for March amounted to a surge of 2.31% over March 2022, TIAC said. The daily average of 78,000 passengers in March was close to 60% of the 2019 average of 133,000. During the first quarter, there were almost 40,000 takeoffs and landings, an increase of 53% over the first three months of 2022.

While the Airports Council International (ACI) estimated that it would take until 2024 or 2025 before levels from before the pandemic were reached, TIAC predicted Taoyuan could see between 20 million and 28 million passengers this year.