Taiwan air pax in first five months of 2012 reaches 10-year high

Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation and Communications reported passenger numbers at Taiwan's 17 airports increased 13.9% year-on-year to 18.2 million in the first five months of 2012, the highest in the past 10 years, according to a Huaxia report. International air passenger numbers, including Hong Kong and Macau, increased 10.9% to 9.5 million while cross-Strait passenger numbers increased 31.4% to 3.7 million and domestic passenger numbers increased 10.3% to 4.3 million. The Ministry attributed the increase traffic to the launch of services from Taipei Songshan to Tokyo Haneda, Shanghai Hongqiao and Seoul Gimpo.