I can well believe it. I’m wondering did the Blackbird take off from there also during the 1960s/70s. It also has a big golf club attached that was obviously setup with USAF and officials in mind.
I live nearby so ‘enjoy’ the F16s flying over my apartment everyday, those guys still train day in day out, luckily I like to watch these type of planes since my own country doesn’t actually have any fighter jets.
[quote=“sandman”][quote=“Icon”]Back in the day when I roamed the skies, Taoyuan already had a reputation for chabuduo.
The airport is being hit especially on TV news.Gosh, they only took away the front parking lot, why make such a fuss for having to walk 20 minutes?[/quote]
Because that’s what people do. Huge kick-up in Edinburgh right now over plans to charge people a quid just to drop people off at the airport there.[/quote]
Forgot to add the 
. Most people don’t know it is much worse “behind teh curtains”, but I am amzed they complain more about the walk rather than the state of the infrastructure.
And now everyone is happier because they promised cheap noodles, a shopping mall, etc.
Hilarious, from the local TV news: (warning also if anyone left their car at the airport parking lots)
So, since they are undergoing construction, the airport staff decided to move the vehicles from the long term parking areas where they’ll be working. So far, so good.
They put the notices on the cars AFTER they moved them. Seriously. :ohreally:
So you had to find your car in order to read a notice telling you the car had been moved, say, from Lot A-3, to Lot D-6. the notice of course stuck on the windshield of your car that would be then sitting in lot D-6… :loco:
Most people took at least 20 minutes of wandering like lost souls around the parking lots. :raspberry:
[quote=“Icon”]Hilarious, from the local TV news: (warning also if anyone left their car at the airport parking lots)
So, since they are undergoing construction, the airport staff decided to move the vehicles from the long term parking areas where they’ll be working. So far, so good.
[/quote]
Yes, the parking lots up there are a complete mess right now, but anyone who parks there long-term is a fool or a n00b. So much off-airport parking at lower price and with free shuttle bus to the door.
How did they move the cars btw? Half the time I see cars being ‘moved’ here it’s with fork-lift trucks or worse. Broken / dented bodywork galore.
I was there twice last week. The first time to pick up a customer’s car with a flat battery. The car park was completely shut up and I had to ask the attendant to let me in to retrieve a car. She asks me to call the owner and for him to prove over the phone that I am there legitimately…LOL… Then she insists three times on seeing the vehicle’s docs, which i tell her are in the glove box of the car and I can show her after I open the door with the key which is in my hand. Then she asked me to call someone who could prove I was who I said I was, even after me providing my ID. Then she finally gave up and let me take the car after I spent ten minutes trying to explain her failed sense of logic.
I realised on my second trip that they have shut down both car parks on terminal 1. Now why wouldn’t they just do one at a time?
[quote=“sulavaca”]
I realised on my second trip that they have shut down both car parks on terminal 1. Now why wouldn’t they just do one at a time?[/quote]
Um, because that would make sense? :no-no:
The TV’s report had people asking: is this some kind of joke?
Seems like something done out of those TV programs that play pranks on people…
[quote=“Icon”]The TV’s report had people asking: is this some kind of joke?
Seems like something done out of those TV programs that play pranks on people…[/quote]
There are lots of days that have me asking, “where did they hide the camera?” 
[quote=“redwagon”][quote=“sulavaca”]
I realised on my second trip that they have shut down both car parks on terminal 1. Now why wouldn’t they just do one at a time?[/quote]
Um, because that would make sense? :no-no:[/quote]
Yep, as putting a notice where the car was originally parked -which is wher epeople would look for it logically and naturally- INSTEAD of putting it on the car in the new location. 
What’s the word in English or Chinese? In Spanish is “el colmo”.
“Taiwan UP”
Ah, finally found out the reason for this wave of “bad news”… The airport is being privatized in November.
Figures. 
[quote=“Icon”]Ah, finally found out the reason for this wave of “bad news”… The airport is being privatized in November.
Figures. [/quote]
Well, privatization has done wonders for Chunghua Telecom, the Post Office etc… most employees improve their service and attitude a lot when that iron rice-bowl breaks, and a lot of people who should be fired, get fired. OTOH, the airport could end up like a freeway rest area. The highest bidder gets the contract to run the place and then they have to screw the customer in order to make any profit. They should farm the management out to whoever it is that runs Changi. 
I think that would be the Spore govt. Should we also farm TW’s govt to the Spore govt? There could be some benefits to be sure.
IMagine if TW was a giant Spore tho?
[quote=“redwagon”][quote=“Icon”]Ah, finally found out the reason for this wave of “bad news”… The airport is being privatized in November.
Figures. [/quote]
Well, privatization has done wonders for Chunghua Telecom, the Post Office etc… most employees improve their service and attitude a lot when that iron rice-bowl breaks, and a lot of people who should be fired, get fired. OTOH, the airport could end up like a freeway rest area. The highest bidder gets the contract to run the place and then they have to screw the customer in order to make any profit. They should farm the management out to whoever it is that runs Changi. [/quote]
Yep, but rallying every single fly in the soup they could find makes me a bit skeptic of what’s to come…
[quote=“redwagon”][quote=“Icon”]Ah, finally found out the reason for this wave of “bad news”… The airport is being privatized in November.
Figures. [/quote]
Well, privatization has done wonders for Chunghua Telecom, the Post Office etc… most employees improve their service and attitude a lot when that iron rice-bowl breaks, and a lot of people who should be fired, get fired. OTOH, the airport could end up like a freeway rest area. The highest bidder gets the contract to run the place and then they have to screw the customer in order to make any profit. They should farm the management out to whoever it is that runs Changi. [/quote]
This is not a sell-off privatization, this is a state-run corporatization. To be precise (from the TW government website), it will be a “state-owned airport management company”.
[quote=“greenmark”]If I got asked, maybe my first priority wouldn’t be the food, rest areas or shopping. Nor even having fast checkin, security checks or quick baggage retrieval.
I might really just ask for somewhere that’s safe to land. Seems the service life for the runways at the airport expired quite a while ago:
focustaiwan.tw/ShowNews/WebNews_ … &Type=aTOD
[quote]
The NAO noted that the north runway has been in operation for 31 years and the south runway has been in service since 1984. Pilots and air traffic controllers have been put under great pressure out of fear that accidents could happen at any time, the office said, adding that the runways need a complete overhaul.
[/quote][/quote]
There is a runway rehabilitation program already budgeted and up and running, they just haven’t begun the actual runway resurfacing yet AFAIK - that will require (of course) the runway under rehab to be shut down, which will require changes to procedures and advisory notices and modified maps and all sorts of wonderful things.
On the other hand, at least the ex-president’s wife’s family construction business wasn’t paid megabucks to do the surfaces, resulting in cracks and fatigue before it was even open for business and causing some international airlines to refuse to fly there - nevermind it was built in a nice swampy area; that would be some other nearby country…
Taoyuan 3rd most punctual airport in the world in 2008
latedeparture.com/2008/06/27 … worldwide/
So, which airport is the worlds most efficient one? According to a Forbes Travlerer article, the winning airport is Haneda airport in Tokyo (HND) with 90% of its arrivals and departures on-time. Never heard of Haneda? Me neither, but according to the article, the airport is the fourth busiest airport in the world primarily handling domestic traffic. It’s bigger sister airport, the well known Narita International (NRT) makes it on to the 2nd place. Well done, Japan!
Interestingly, 6 out of the 10 most on-time airports are located in Asia, only two from the US (Orlando and Houston) and one from Europe (Munich) make it into this elite group - maybe some of these airport managers should have a summer exchange class organized in Asia…
Haneda (HND), Tokyo, Japan - 90%
Narita International (NRT), Tokyo, Japan - 84.2%
Taiwan Taoyuan International, Taipei (TPE), Taiwan - 80.3%
Kingsford Smith International (SYD), Sydney, Australia - 80.1%
Hong Kong International (HKG), Hong Kong, Hong Kong - 79.7%
Soekarno-Hatta International (CGK), Jakarta, Indonesia - 79.3%
Suvarnabhumi International (BKK), Bangkok, Thailand - 79.3%
Orlando International (MCO), Orlando, USA - 79.8%
Franz Josef Strauss Airport (MUC), Munich, Germany - 77.8%
George Bush International (IAH), Houston, USA - 77%
Read the full Forbes Traveler article here.
Sounds about right to me, I don’t ever remember a delay in Taiwan or Japan. China on the other hand…add an hour to every flight and you’d be about right!
[quote=“tommy525”]Taoyuan 3rd most punctual airport in the world in 2008
latedeparture.com/2008/06/27 … worldwide/
So, which airport is the worlds most efficient one? According to a Forbes Travlerer article, the winning airport is Haneda airport in Tokyo (HND) with 90% of its arrivals and departures on-time. Never heard of Haneda? Me neither, but according to the article, the airport is the fourth busiest airport in the world primarily handling domestic traffic. It’s bigger sister airport, the well known Narita International (NRT) makes it on to the 2nd place. Well done, Japan!
Interestingly, 6 out of the 10 most on-time airports are located in Asia, only two from the US (Orlando and Houston) and one from Europe (Munich) make it into this elite group - maybe some of these airport managers should have a summer exchange class organized in Asia…
Haneda (HND), Tokyo, Japan - 90%
Narita International (NRT), Tokyo, Japan - 84.2%
Taiwan Taoyuan International, Taipei (TPE), Taiwan - 80.3%
Kingsford Smith International (SYD), Sydney, Australia - 80.1%
Hong Kong International (HKG), Hong Kong, Hong Kong - 79.7%
Soekarno-Hatta International (CGK), Jakarta, Indonesia - 79.3%
Suvarnabhumi International (BKK), Bangkok, Thailand - 79.3%
Orlando International (MCO), Orlando, USA - 79.8%
Franz Josef Strauss Airport (MUC), Munich, Germany - 77.8%
George Bush International (IAH), Houston, USA - 77%
Read the full Forbes Traveler article here.[/quote]
I believe direct flights between Songshan and Haneda are supposed to start in the next few months (October 31?), which’ll be friggin fantastic at avoiding the hour trip and back to Taoyuan. Unless you already live out near this hellhole, of course…
I’ve been seein some delays lately in and out of Taoyuan (not just because of the storms I posted about) in the 20-30 minute timeframe lately, and I expect there may be a few more coming in the aftermath of the Ukranian jet runway incursion in July, and especially when they begin the runway rehabilitation program and close one of the runways for a year or however long.
[quote=“TwoTongues”][quote=“tommy525”]Taoyuan 3rd most punctual airport in the world in 2008
latedeparture.com/2008/06/27 … worldwide/
So, which airport is the worlds most efficient one? According to a Forbes Travlerer article, the winning airport is Haneda airport in Tokyo (HND) with 90% of its arrivals and departures on-time. Never heard of Haneda? Me neither, but according to the article, the airport is the fourth busiest airport in the world primarily handling domestic traffic. It’s bigger sister airport, the well known Narita International (NRT) makes it on to the 2nd place. Well done, Japan!
Interestingly, 6 out of the 10 most on-time airports are located in Asia, only two from the US (Orlando and Houston) and one from Europe (Munich) make it into this elite group - maybe some of these airport managers should have a summer exchange class organized in Asia…
Haneda (HND), Tokyo, Japan - 90%
Narita International (NRT), Tokyo, Japan - 84.2%
Taiwan Taoyuan International, Taipei (TPE), Taiwan - 80.3%
Kingsford Smith International (SYD), Sydney, Australia - 80.1%
Hong Kong International (HKG), Hong Kong, Hong Kong - 79.7%
Soekarno-Hatta International (CGK), Jakarta, Indonesia - 79.3%
Suvarnabhumi International (BKK), Bangkok, Thailand - 79.3%
Orlando International (MCO), Orlando, USA - 79.8%
Franz Josef Strauss Airport (MUC), Munich, Germany - 77.8%
George Bush International (IAH), Houston, USA - 77%
Read the full Forbes Traveler article here.[/quote]
I believe direct flights between Songshan and Haneda are supposed to start in the next few months (October 31?), which’ll be friggin fantastic at avoiding the hour trip and back to Taoyuan. Unless you already live out near this hellhole, of course…
I’ve been seein some delays lately in and out of Taoyuan (not just because of the storms I posted about) in the 20-30 minute timeframe lately, and I expect there may be a few more coming in the aftermath of the Ukranian jet runway incursion in July, and especially when they begin the runway rehabilitation program and close one of the runways for a year or however long.[/quote]
I don’t know. It takes me almost as long to get to Songshan as Taoyuan. Taking the MRT means 2 transfers and three lines.