Kaohsiung International Airport

Kaohsiung International Airport (高雄國際機場[lower-alpha 2]) (IATA: KHH, ICAO: RCKH) is a medium-sized civil airport in Siaogang District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, also known as Siaogang Airport (小港機場; Xiǎogǎng jīchǎng). With nearly seven million passengers in 2018, it is the second busiest airport in Taiwan, after Taoyuan.[1] The airport has a single east–west runway and two terminals: one international and one domestic. It is owned and operated by the Civil Aeronautics Administration.

Kaohsiung International Airport

高雄國際航空站
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorCivil Aeronautics Administration
ServesKaohsiung
LocationSiaogang District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Hub for
Elevation AMSL9 m / 30 ft
Coordinates22°34′37″N 120°21′00″E
Map
KHH/RCKH
Location of airport in Siaogang , Taiwan
KHH/RCKH
KHH/RCKH (Asia)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
09/27[lower-alpha 1] 3,150 10,335 Concrete
Statistics (2019)
Number of passengers7,496,336
Aircraft Movements60,155
Total cargo (metric tonnes)73,541.6
Source: Civil Aeronautics Administration[1]

History

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. 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.[4]

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 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.

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. The convenience of Taiwan High Speed Rail and record-high costs of jet fuel were eating up most load factors to Taipei, caused flights between cities on Taiwan's western plains to cease operation, with the last domestic flight between Taipei Songshan and Kaohsiung ceased operation on 31 August 2012. The dedicated international connecting flight between Kaohsiung and Taoyuan stopped on 1 July 2017, after over thirty years of operation.

Since December 2008, Kaohsiung Airport has added direct flights to Hangzhou, and has since added flights to Shenzhen, Shanghai, Fuzhou, Changsha, Beijing, Kunming, Zhengzhou, Guilin, Qingdao and Chengdu.

Since 2009, the number of passengers has been recovering due to the opening of regular scheduled cross-strait flights to mainland China, as well as the rise of low cost carriers.[5]

Terminals
Kaohsiung International Airport terminal building
Kaohsiung International Airport control tower

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

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. The international terminal opened in 1997 and all gates have jet bridges. It serves all international and cross-strait flights to China. The floor area for the international terminal is three times more than that of the domestic one.

Airlines and destinations
Countries with direct flights to Kaohsiung and top 20 cities in 2016

Commercial
AirlinesDestinationsRef
AirAsia Kuala Lumpur–International
Air Busan Busan, Seoul–Incheon[6]
Air Macau Macau
Asiana Airlines Seoul–Incheon[7][8][9]
Bamboo Airways Hanoi (begins 1 August 2020) [10]
Cathay DragonHong Kong
China Airlines Bangkok–Suvharnabhumi, Beijing–Capital, Hong Kong, Kumamoto, Manila, Naha, Osaka–Kansai, Sapporo–Chitose, Seoul–Incheon, Shanghai–Pudong, Shenzhen, Singapore, Tokyo–Narita
China Eastern Airlines Nanchang, Nanjing, Wuhan, Wuxi
China Southern Airlines Wuhan
Daily AirQimei, Wang-an
Eastar Jet Seoul–Incheon[11]
EVA Air Fukuoka, Guangzhou, Macau, Ningbo, Osaka–Kansai, Seoul–Incheon, Shanghai–Pudong, Tokyo–Narita
Fly GangwonYangyang[12]
Japan AirlinesTokyo–Narita
Jeju AirJeju,[13] Seoul–Incheon
Jetstar PacificDa Nang[14]
Juneyao AirlinesShanghai–Pudong
Mandarin AirlinesChangsha, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Hualien, Penghu, Xiamen
PeachNaha, Osaka–Kansai, Tokyo–Narita
Philippines AirAsiaCebu, Clark, Manila
ScootOsaka–Kansai, Singapore
Spring AirlinesNingbo, Shanghai–Pudong
Thai Eastar JetBangkok–Suvarnabhumi[15]
Thai SmileBangkok–Suvarnabhumi, Chiang Mai[16]
Tigerair TaiwanFukuoka, Macau, Nagoya–Centrair, Naha, Osaka–Kansai, Tokyo–Narita
T'way Air Busan,[17] Seoul–Incheon
Uni AirFuzhou, Hangzhou, Kinmen, Kunming, Penghu, Qingdao,[18] Wuxi
VietJet AirHanoi, Ho Chi Minh City
Vietnam AirlinesHanoi, Ho Chi Minh City
Charter: Can Tho
XiamenAirFuzhou, Quanzhou, Xiamen

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

Military charter
AirlinesDestinationsRef
Republic of China Air ForceDongsha Island, Taiping Island
Uni AirDongsha Island

Statistics
Operations and Statistics [19]
Year Passenger
movements		 Airfreight
movements
(tons)		 Aircraft
movement
2010 4,053,069 64,850.8 41,300
2011 4,050,980 55,364.4 42,596
2012 4,465,794 54,104.5 45,302
2013 4,646,222 55,112.0 46,721
2014 5,397,021 68,767.3 51,681
2015 6,001,487 63,030.8 55,685
2016 6,416,681 71,447.8 57,446
2017 6,479,183 81,555.3 51,768
2018 6,973,845 73,541.6 60,155
2019
Busiest routes from Kaohsiung (2019) [20][21]
Rank Airport Passengers % Change 2019/18 Carriers
1 Hong Kong 1,339,144 1.6% China Airlines, Cathay Dragon
2 Penghu 895,211 6.8% Uni Air, Far Eastern Air Transport
3 Tokyo–Narita 595,239 1.3% China Airlines, EVA Air, Tigerair Taiwan, Japan Airlines, Vanilla Air
4 Osaka–Kansai 528,103 10.0% China Airlines, EVA Air, Tigerair Taiwan, Peach, Scoot
5 Kinmen 468,563 5.0% Uni Air, Far Eastern Air Transport
6 Macau 443,679 16.1% EVA Air, Tigerair Taiwan, Air Macau
7 Seoul–Incheon 413,954 21.9% China Airlines, EVA Air, Jeju Air, T'way Air
8 Shanghai–Pudong 303,609 4.2% China Airlines, EVA Air, Juneyao Airlines, Spring Airlines
9 Naha 296,631 35.1% China Airlines, Tigerair Taiwan, Peach
10 Ho Chi Minh City 277,657 3.2% Vietnam Airlines, VietJet Air

Accidents and incidents
  • On 15 February 1969, a Douglas C-47B B-241 of Far Eastern Air Transport was damaged beyond economic repair in an accident at Kaohsiung International Airport.[22]
  • On 27 June 1989, a Cessna 404 Titan of Formosa Airlines on its way to Wang-an, Penghu crashed into nearby Cianjhen District streets shortly after takeoff. All 12 people on board were killed; there were no ground casualties.[23]
  • On 23 July 2014, TransAsia Airways Flight 222 took off from Kaohsiung International Airport bound for Magong. The ATR 72-500 crashed into buildings during a second attempt to land in bad weather. Of the 58 people on board, only 10 survived. 5 people on the ground were injured and the crash caused a fire involving two homes.

Ground transportation
  • Rail: The airport is served by Kaohsiung Rapid Transit Red line at Kaohsiung International Airport, providing access to Taiwan Railways at Kaohsiung Main Station and Taiwan High Speed Rail at Zuoying. Both terminals are connected.
  • Coach: A one-way coach fare from Kaohsiung International Airport to Fangliao and Kenting is available.
  • Local bus: Both terminals are served by local buses
  • Car rental: a car rental centre is located between the terminals, near the airport bus stop.
  • Taxis: Yellow taxis are available. A roaming taxi stop is at right side of International Terminal. There are also 2 Queuing taxi stops can be found at the airport, one is at left side of International Terminal, another one is at the left side of Domestic Terminal.

See also

Footnotes
  1. ex-09L/27R
  2. Official name in Chinese is 高雄國際航空站

References
  1. "民航運輸各機場營運量－按機場分" (PDF). CAA. CAA. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  2. Hung, Chih-wen (2015). 不沈空母 : 台灣島內飛行場百年發展史 [The history of airfields and airports in Taiwan] (in Chinese). 洪致文. ISBN 9789574325153.
  3. "History of Taiwan Kaohsiung Airport (KHH): Airport History and Facts, Kaohsiung Area, Taiwan". www.kaohsiung-khh.airports-guides.com. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  4. "Kaohsiung International Airport". Travel King. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  5. "2016 Annual Report". kia.gov.tw. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  6. Liu, Jim. "Air Busan revises 4Q19 International routes launch". Routesonline. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  7. "Asiana Airlines adds Kaohsiung scheduled charters in Sep/Oct 2019". Routesonline. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  8. "Asiana Airlines W19 Taiwan service changes as of 07OCT19". Routesonline. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  9. "아시아나, 가오슝·푸꾸옥 부정기편 '정기노선' 전환… 신규 수요 발굴" (in Korean). New Daily Economy. 4 October 2014.
  10. Liu, Jim. "Bamboo Airways delays new International routes launch to August 2020". Routesonline. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  11. Liu, Jim. "EastarJet adds Seoul – Kaohsiung service from late-Oct 2019". Routesonline. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  12. "江原航空首條國際航線飛台灣 12/26首航 | 生活 | 中央社 CNA". www.cna.com.tw (in Chinese). Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  13. "Jeju Air adds Jeju – Kaohsiung service from Oct 2019". Routesonline. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  14. "Da Nang Tourism Roadshow in Taiwan promotes Da Nang and new direct flights to Kaohsiung". Traveldailynews.Asia. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  15. Liu, Jim. "Thai Eastar Jet moves planned Kaohsiung launch to 2Q20". Routesonline. Retrieved 13 January 2020.
  16. "Thai Smile plans Chiang Mai – Kaohsiung service from Jan 2020". Routesonline. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  17. "T'Way Air adds Busan – Kaohsiung from Sep 2019". Routesonline. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  18. "UNI Air resumes Kaohsiung – Qingdao service from late-Sep 2019". Routesonline. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  19. "民航運輸各機場營運量－按機場分" (PDF). CAA ROC (in Chinese). Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  20. "國際及兩岸定期航線班機載客率－按航線分" (PDF). CAA. CAA. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  21. "國內航線班機載客率－按航空公司及航線分" (PDF). CAA (in Chinese). Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  22. "B-241 Accident Description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
  23. Formosa Airlines Archived 19 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Baaa-acro.com.

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