History
The airport was built in 1936 with its origins as a Japanese military airbase, the Matsuyama Airdrome, during Japanese rule. After World War II, in 1946, it was taken over by the Republic of China Air Force. Before the end of the Chinese Civil War and the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the airport provided flight routes between Shanghai and Taipei, occasionally via Fuzhou.
Shared military and civilian use—both domestic and international—began on April 16, 1950 in the reconstructed Civil Aeronautics Administration Taipei Airport (Chinese: 交通部民用航空局台北航空站). Domestic destinations have been Kaohsiung, Hualien, Taichung, Makung, and Tainan. The first international destinations were Seattle, Tokyo, Pusan, Manila, Bangkok, and Hong Kong. The first international airlines included Northwest Airlines, Pan American Airlines, and Hong Kong Airways (now Cathay Pacific). Later, the airport became too small to handle an increased number of passengers, even after a series of expansions. This later worsened when new wide-body jets became common at the airport. Therefore, all international activities were relocated to Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (now Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport) after its inauguration on February 26, 1979. Consequently, the passenger load at the airport dropped from 6.2 million in 1978 to 2.9 million in 1979 (a 53% decrease). At its peak in 1997, the airport handled over 15.3 million passengers annually.
Service to Taichung and Chiayi was stopped in mid-2007 after the load factor dropped significantly due to Taiwan High Speed Rail start of revenue service in January 2007. Passenger volume decreased from 6.7 million in 2006 to 4.4 million in 2007 (a 34% decrease). Also due to the opening of the high speed rail line, on March 1, 2008, Uni Air suspended its service to Kaohsiung, while Far Eastern Air Transport suspended its service to Tainan. TransAsia Airways decided to stop flights to Tainan and Kaohsiung after August 1, 2008.
In early 1999 when the construction of Taipei 101 had just started, Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration changed this airport's certain SID and STAR procedures to avoid possible collision with the building. The 677-meter Fuxing North Road Underground Passage (復興北路車行地下道) was constructed between 1997 and 2006 under this airport's runway to link the north and south side of this airport.
Regular cross-strait charter flights to mainland China started on July 4, 2008, with Songshan receiving the majority of flights. Direct flights to mainland China were an issue of contention. Then-mayor Ma Ying-jeou had been pressing to make Songshan Airport Taipei's main cross-strait terminal, citing that its location close to the city center would make it preferable for business travelers. However, building height restrictions around the airport raised concerns about flight safety, blocking of radio communications, noise pollution, and a reduced number of flights.
The adjacent, unused Terminal 2 was refurbished to accommodate arriving flights while the main Terminal, now Terminal 1, was rearranged to handle increased passenger traffic. On March 29, 2011, the renovated Terminal 2 was re-opened to handle domestic flights.
Read more about this topic: Taipei Songshan Airport
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