Gimhae International Airport also known as Busan Airport is located on the western end of Busan, the second-largest city in South Korea. Opened in 1976, the airport is named after the nearby city of Gimhae. A new international terminal opened on 31 October 2007. Gimhae International Airport is the main hub for Air Busan and Korean Air, and an operating base for Jeju Air and Jin Air. Runway 18L/36R is used for military purposes only for Gimhae Air Base, but due to increasing traffic, there are plans to open the runway for airliners. In 2018, 17,064,613 passengers used the airport.
As the airport is now beyond its design capacity and surrounded by mountains, buildings and other objectives, a new airport is currently being built on Gadeokdo to meet growing demand. Because the airport is shared with military facilities, photography and video of the apron, runway, and military stations are prohibited according to the airport website.
History
In August 1976, Gimhae Airport opened, and commercial air traffic shifted there from the old airport. A new domestic terminal was completed in May 1983. Korean Air launched a route to Honolulu in October 1992. In April 2002, Northwest Airlines began service to its hub at Tokyo's Narita Airport, where people could board connecting flights to the United States. In March 2007, Lufthansa inaugurated service to Munich via Seoul. This was the first route between Busan and Europe. President Roh Moo-hyun opened a new international terminal seven months later. Delta Air Lines, which had merged with Northwest, ended the Tokyo link in May 2012.
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
<!-- Please use independent sources. The airport and the airline itself are not independent sources. -->
Statistics
thumb|Terminal interior
thumb|Terminal interior
thumb|Terminal exterior
Passengers
<!---->
{| class="wikitable sortable"; style="text-align: center; font-size: 95%"
! colspan="4" |Air traffic statistics
|-
!
!Aircraft operations
!Passenger volume
!Cargo tonnage
|-
!2001
|61,242
|9,168,089
|203,335
|-
!2002
|60,090
|9,173,288
|204,464
|-
!2003
|58,600
|8,782,835
|185,372
|-
!2004
|52,212
|7,674,153
|175,850
|-
!2005
|50,735
|7,045,806
|152,407
|-
!2006
|52,935
|7,071,037
|135,607
|-
!2007
|58,119
|7,403,262
|126,947
|-
!2008
|59,575
|7,202,117
|113,710
|-
!2009
|61,171
|6,870,157
|105,320
|-
!2010
|62,225
|8,160,546
|119,390
|-
!2011
|66,525
|8,749,153
|126,710
|-
!2012
|71,713
|9,196,090
|121,256
|-
!2013
|77,665
|9,671,381
|116,185
|-
!2014
|78,646
|10,378,867
|123,242
|-
!2015
|87,709
|12,382,150
|146,694
|-
!2016
|99,358
|14,900,815
|185,472
|-
!2017
|107,363
|16,403,541
|186,471
|-
!2018
|110,924
|17,064,613
|183,507
|-
!2019
|111,276
|16,931,023
|171,953
|-
!2020
|53,150
|7,235,652
|48,250
|-
!2021
|57,694
|8,859,304
|36,010
|-
!2022
|61,733
|10,027,097
|55,555
|-
| colspan="4" |Source: Korea Airports Corporation Traffic Statistics
|}
Transport
The airport is accesible by the Gimhae International Airport station of the Busan-Gimhae Light Rail Transit.
See also
- Gimhae Air Base
- Transportation in South Korea
References
External links
- Gimhae International Airport English homepage