TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport expects the number of annual passengers to reach 90% of pre-pandemic levels, or 44 million, the airport operator said Tuesday (Nov. 19).
Taoyuan International Airport Corporation (TIAC) projected a return to the 2019 level next year, per CNA. For the year so far, the number topped 39.5 million Tuesday, with 40 million likely by Nov. 25, and 44 million by the end of the year.
Air traffic with North America and Northeast Asia was already exceeding the volume reached before the pandemic, with airlines launching new routes to respond to demand. China is the only destination where no recovery was apparent, as the country still restricts travel to Taiwan.
Another reason for Taoyuan’s revival is growth in the number of transit passengers, according to TIAC. Before the pandemic, they amounted to about 10% of total traffic, but during 2024 their proportion ranged between 15% and 17%.
Most of the transit passengers were traveling between North America and Southeast Asia, and the three most frequent Southeast Asian nationals to transit in Taiwan were Filipinos, Vietnamese, and Thais.