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'Gimpo International Airport' (Hangul: 김포국제공항; Hanja:金浦國際空港; Revised Romanization of Korean: Gimpo Gukje Gonghang; McCune-Reischauer: Kimp'o Kukche Konghang), commonly known as Gimpo Airport (formerly 'Kimpo International Airport'), is located in the far western end of Seoul and was the main international airport for Seoul and South Korea before it was replaced by Incheon International Airport in 2001. It is now the second largest airport in Korea.
In 2006, 13,766,523 passengers utilized the airport.^[1]

Contents

Airlines and destinations

History

Disasters involving Gimpo

See also

External links

References

Airlines and destinations

Gimpo International Airport serves both international flights and domestic flights. All international flights are Seoul-Gimpo to Tokyo-Haneda, operated by four airlines, All Nippon Airways, Asiana Airlines, Japan Airlines and Korean Air.

★ All Nippon Airways (Tokyo-Haneda)

★ Asiana Airlines (Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, Jeju, Jinju, Mokpo, Pohang, Tokyo-Haneda, Ulsan, Yeosu)

★ Hansung Airlines (Jeju)

★ Japan Airlines (Tokyo-Haneda)

★ Jeju Air (Jeju)

★ Korean Air (Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, Jeju, Jinju, Pohang, Tokyo-Haneda, Ulsan, Yeosu)

History

The airport originally started out as a runway built by U.S. forces in 1951 during the Korean War and has since grown into a much more significant airport that is capable of handling 226,000 flights a year. The airport had one domestic and two international terminals before its international function was replaced by Incheon International Airport. Gimpo currently has two runways (3600 m×45 m & 3200 m×60 m), two passenger terminals, and one cargo terminal.
The airport is located south of the Han River in western Seoul. (The name "Gimpo" comes from the nearby city of Gimpo, of which the airport used to be a part.)
For many years, the airport was served by the Gimpo Line, a railway line that no longer exists. In the 1990s, Seoul Subway Line 5 was extended to Gimpo. On March 23, 2007, the AREX airport express line started operations to Incheon International Airport, with the rest of the link to Seoul Station scheduled to open in 2010. Future plans include Seoul Subway Line 9 to Banpo.
Airlines that used to serve Gimpo but no longer serve Seoul are:

★ Air New Zealand ★ Alitalia ★ Ansett Australia ★ Iberia Airlines ★ Kuwait Airways

★ Lauda Air ★ Pan Am (1986) ★ Saudi Arabian Airlines ★ Swissair ★ VASP

On November 29, 2003, scheduled services between Gimpo and Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) in Tokyo, Japan started, providing the only existing international link for both city airports. Services to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport are also planned.

Disasters involving Gimpo

★ In 1983, Korean Air Flight 007, flying from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, New York via Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Anchorage, Alaska, flew into Soviet air space and was shot down. All passengers died.

★ In 1987, Korean Air Flight 858, which was flying from Abu Dhabi International Airport in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates to Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, to Kimpo was blown up midair by a bomb planted by North Korean agents. Everyone on board died after the plane exploded over the Andaman Sea.

★ In 1997, Korean Air Flight 801, a Boeing 747 that had taken off from this airport, crashed before landing at Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport, killing all but 26 of its passengers.

See also

★ List of Korea-related topics

★ Transportation in South Korea

External links

★ Gimpo Airport

★

References

1. Korean airport statistics