TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport expects 3.8 million passengers to pass through during the Christmas, New Year, and Lunar New Year period, adding travelers should arrive at the airport three hours before their flight.

While December 25 is not an official holiday in Taiwan, it heralds the start of a busy travel period. January 1 is a day off, with school holidays in January centered around the Lunar New Year period.

Taoyuan International Airport Corporation (TIAC) said Saturday it had called a meeting of all services involved in handling travelers at the airport, per CNA. The airlines, ground services, immigration, quarantine units, and terrestrial transportation operators all attended the meeting to discuss how to meet the increased flow of traffic.

The period from December 20 to January 5 would see 14 extra charter flights, 84 extra regular commercial flights for a total of 2.25 million passengers, or an average of 132,000 per day.

The Lunar New Year period from January 24 to February 3 would see eight extra charter flights and 46 extra regular flights, with 1.55 million passengers or a daily average of 140,000, TIAC said. The total was already close to the pre-COVID average of 142,000 per day.

Travelers needed to know that the peak hours for departures fell between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m., and 11 p.m. and midnight. Peak hours for arrivals at Taoyuan were centered around 5 a.m., between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., and from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

TIAC said 40.9 million people had passed through the airport from January to November, with the total for 2024 estimated to reach 45 million. The Tourism Administration was expecting the number of foreign visitors to Taiwan, most of whom pass through Taoyuan Airport, to total at least 7.5 million for 2024, with 8 million still a possibility.