Kaohsiung International Airport

Early years

Originally built as an Imperial Japanese Army Air Squadron base in 1942 during the Japanese rule era of Taiwan,^[2] 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 the status an international airport in 1969, with regular international flights starting in 1972.^[3]

During the 1970s and 1980s, direct international flights were rare at the airport, with Hong Kong and Tokyo being the only two destinations.^{[citation needed][4]} Since the early 1990s, dedicated connection flights to Taipei were inaugurated, bringing convenience to the south as Taipei had more international flights. These contributed to a steady growth in airport passenger and flight movements. A new terminal dedicated to international flights was opened in 1997.^[5]

In summer 1998, EVA Air opened a direct flight between Kaohsiung and Los Angeles, but it was discontinued only after six months.^[6] Northwest Airlines operated the Kaohsiung–Osaka route from 1999 to 2001, and the Tokyo route from 2002 to 2003. These two routes were separately suspended due to the low load caused by the September 11 attacks and SARS outbreak. ^{[citation needed]}

Development since the 2000s

After Taiwan High Speed Rail, the high speed rail line that runs between Taipei and Kaohsiung along Taiwan's western plains, began operation in January 2007, Kaohsiung Airport suffered large reduction in passenger and flight movements.^{[citation needed]} The convenience of Taiwan High Speed Rail and record-high costs of jet fuel were eating up most load factors to Taipei, causing the eventual cessation of flights between cities on Taiwan's western plains. The last domestic flight between Taipei Songshan and Kaohsiung landed on 31 August 2012.^{[citation needed]} The dedicated international connecting flight between Kaohsiung and Taoyuan stopped on 1 July 2017, after over thirty years of operation.^{[citation needed]}

Since 2009, the number of passengers has been recovering due to the opening of regular scheduled cross-strait flights to China, as well as the rise of low cost carriers.^[7]