Kaohsiung International Airport (高雄國際機場[b]) (IATA: KHH, ICAO: RCKH) is a medium-sized international airport in Siaogang District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, also known as Siaogang Airport (小港機場). With 4.2 million passengers in 2023, it was the third busiest airport in Taiwan, after Taoyuan and Songshan.[1] The airport has a single east–west runway and two terminals: one international and one domestic.
History
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] 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]
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, 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. The dedicated international connecting flight between Kaohsiung and Taoyuan stopped on 1 July 2017, after over thirty years of operation.
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.[6]
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.[citation needed] 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 larger than the domestic one.
Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.
Annual passenger traffic at KHH airport.
See Wikidata query.
Coach: There is a one-way coach from Kaohsiung International Airport to Fangliao and Kenting.
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 the right side of the International Terminal. There are also two queuing taxi stops at the airport, one at the left side of the International Terminal, and one at the left side of the Domestic Terminal.