Hurry and check your pockets！ Airport service fee to increase by NT$200, taking effect next April

▲ Terminal 1 of Taoyuan Airport. (Illustration / Photo by reporter Tsai Wen-jun)

Travel Center / Comprehensive Report

The airport service fee is set to rise next year！ The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced on the 20th that the airport service fee will be increased from the current NT$300 to NT$500, with the new rate expected to take effect in April next year.

The so-called “airport service fee” is a certain amount charged to outbound travelers and is used for airport construction and tourism development. Taiwan has not adjusted this fee in 27 years. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications had already decided to raise the airport service fee in the first half of this year, but coordination with various airlines only took place recently.

The airport service fee was originally scheduled to take effect early next year, but due to a longer procedural process, the CAA only recently coordinated with the airlines. Airlines have informed the CAA that the airport service fee is collected by them as part of the ticket price, and since most tickets are issued in advance, at least a three-month notice period is needed for any adjustment to the airport service fee—making an early next year implementation too rushed.

Therefore, the CAA has decided to start publicizing the increase in the airport service fee to the public from next year, with the earliest possible implementation being April next year. Taoyuan International Airport Corporation stated that Taiwan has not adjusted the airport service fee in 27 years, and fees charged by neighboring countries are all higher than Taiwan’s—for example, Singapore’s Changi Airport and Beijing Capital Airport both exceed NT$800, while Japan’s Narita Airport and South Korea’s Incheon Airport also charge over NT$700. Hong Kong Airport’s fee is more than double that of Taiwan’s.

The Ministry of Transportation and Communications said that according to the Development of Tourism Act, about 60% of the current airport service fee goes to the Tourism Development Fund, with the remaining 40% allocated to international airports such as Taoyuan, Songshan, Xiaogang, and Qingquan. The future distribution ratio will be adjusted to 50% each. With the increase in the airport service fee, the annual revenue of each airport could reach nearly NT$9 billion. (News source: Central News Agency)