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Taoyuan airport passenger levels fall below SARS numbers: NIA
Taiwan's main international airport has reached a significant milestone in dropping passenger numbers.
The number of travellers who arrived and departed from Taoyuan International Airport on Saturday fell below the daily average handled by the airport at the height of the SARS outbreak in 2003.
Only about 7,800 people took flights to or from the airport, down about 1,700 passengers from the 9,500 who used the airport a day earlier. In May 2003, daily traffic was 9,300 passengers on average. This represents a sharp drop below normal levels as, for the whole of 2019, an average of over 130,000 per day took flights.
Passenger numbers at the Taoyuan airport have been plummeting since Taiwan and the global community began imposing travel restrictions in January to limit the spread of the new coronavirus disease.
Taiwan currently bars most foreign nationals from entering the country, and requires foreigners who can enter the country and Taiwanese citizens to go into self-quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.
