Kaohsiung International Airport

History

Originally built as an Imperial Japanese Army Air Squadron base in 1942 during the Japanese rule era of Taiwan, Kaohsiung Airport retained its military purpose when the Republic of China government first took control of Taiwan in 1945. Due to the need for civil transportation in southern Taiwan, it was demilitarised and converted into a domestic civil airport in 1965, and further upgraded to an international airport in 1969, with regular international flights starting in 1972.

During the 1970s and 1980s, direct international flights were rare at the airport, with Hong Kong and Tokyo being the only two destinations. Since the early 1990s, dedicated connection flights to Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (now Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport) were inaugurated. This brought southern Taiwan travelers much convenience, as they can transit via the Chiang Kai-shek International Airport where there was a higher availability of international flights. In the meantime, direct flights to Southeast Asia cities were gradually opened. This reduced the inconvenience that travelers in southern Taiwan needed to travel to Taoyuan in the north before flying south. These contributed to a steady growth in airport passenger and flight movements. A new terminal dedicated to international flights was opened in 1997.

In summer 1998, EVA Air opened a direct flight between Kaohsiung and Los Angeles, but it was discontinued only three months later due to low ridership. Northwest Airlines served Siaogang Airport, operating from Kansai Airport from 1999 to 2001, and Narita Airport from 2002 to 2003. These two routes were separately suspended due to the low load caused by the September 11 attacks and SARS outbreak.

After the Taiwan High Speed Rail's inauguration in January 2007, the Kaohsiung airport suffered great losses in passenger/flight movements; the Taiwan High Speed Rail and record-high costs of jet fuel are eating up most load factors to Taipei Songshan Airport and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (frequent buses link the Taoyuan Airport and the THSR Taoyuan Station). Some carriers dropped the two routes while other carriers reduced flights.

Since 2009, the number of passengers has been recovering due to the opening of regular scheduled cross-strait flights, as well as the rise of low cost carriers.

Terminals

Kaohsiung International Airport has two terminals – domestic and international. They are connected by a corridor way.

The domestic terminal was built in 1965 when the facility was first opened as a civilian airport. Through the years, it has undergone small expansions and improvements, but jet bridges have never been added. (The domestic terminal primarily serves smaller planes that do not require jet bridges.) The current domestic terminal building also served international flights before the opening of the new international terminal in 1997.

The international terminal opened in 1997 and all gates have jet bridges. It serves all international flights and connecting flights to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. While riding a connecting flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, passengers proceed through immigration in Kaohsiung International Airport and do not need to repeat the procedure in Taoyuan, avoiding congestion in Taoyuan and saving time between flights. The floor area for the international terminal is three times more than that of the domestic one.

Airlines and destinations

Several airlines such as China Airlines and Uni Air operate charter flights from Kaohsiung to many Japanese cities including Asahigawa, Hakodate, Sapporo, Hanamaki, Obihiro, Nagasaki and Kumamoto, mostly during long vacations.

Accidents and incidents

Ground transportation