Taipei, Sept. 1 (CNA) Transferring passengers arriving on flights from the U.S. will no longer have to go through security at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taiwan’s Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) announced Friday.
In a press release, the CAA said that passengers flying from the U.S. – accounting for an estimated 3000 travelers on 16 flights run by China Airlines, Eva Airways, and Starlux Airlines per day – could save around one hour when transiting through Taoyuan with the new measures, which became effective on Friday.
The “one-stop security” measures aim to speed up the flow of transfer passengers and baggage to their onward destinations by removing unnecessary duplication of airport security controls.
According to CAA statistics, travelers flying from the U.S. accounted for 25 percent of transfer passengers at Taoyuan Airport in 2019, and since the COVID-19 pandemic, the figure has risen to 30 percent.
In order to optimize traffic flow for transfer passengers, reduce the time they have to wait for security checks, boost consumption, provide a better travel experience and economize police manpower, the CAA said it had already started working with the Aviation Police Bureau (APB) before the pandemic to prepare and plan for the launch of “one-stop security.”
CAA Director General Lin Kuo-shian (???) and APB Chief of Police Chiu Wen-liang (???) visited the U.S. in July this year and were accompanied by Transportation Security Administration officials at San Francisco International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport to learn about U.S. airports’ security measures and procedures, making sure these meet Taiwan’s aviation security standards.
According to Lin, Taiwan has already worked with the U.S. to implement one-stop security measures for hold luggage in 2019, and from now on this will also include hand luggage and the passengers themselves.
