History
An airport was first built in the town of Hongqiao in the west of Shanghai in 1907, initially as a small military airfield. In March 1923, it was upgraded into the Hongqiao Airport for mixed civilian use. In 1937, Hongqiao was the site of the so-called 'Oyama Incident' in which a Japanese lieutenant was shot dead by Chinese Peace Preservation Corps soldiers in the lead-up to the Battle of Shanghai. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the airport was occupied by the Japanese and used as an air force base. Its military use continued after being handed over to the Republic of China government and, later, the People's Republic of China government. From late 1963, it was rebuilt for civilian use, and was re-opened in April 1964. A major expansion took place from March to September 1984, and another from December 1988 to December 1991.
Hongqiao Airport served as Shanghai's primary airport until the completion of Pudong International Airport in 1999, when almost all international flights were moved to Pudong. The airport presently offers mainly domestic flights, as well as five international or cross-border routes with "city-to-city" service to central Tokyo's Haneda Airport, central Seoul's Gimpo Airport, central Taipei's Songshan Airport, Hong Kong, and Macau.
Read more about this topic: Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport
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