A poster for the 60th anniversary of Gimpo Int’l Airport.

Gimpo International Airport officially celebrated its 60th anniversary as it was officially redesignated as an international airport in 1958 by a presidential degree, completely replacing the existing Yeouido Airport.

Kimpo Airport was originally constructed in 1935–1942 during the Japanese Imperial period as an Imperial Army base. The runways were built on a bed of rocks manually hauled by Korean laborers from Kaihwasan and Yangchan, several miles from the base.

Then known as Keijo New Airfield in Japanese parlance, Kimpo was constructed with four runways to supplement the much smaller Keijo Airfield, which was later known as Yeouido Airport.

In 1958, the airport was redesignated as the Gimpo international airport of Seoul by a presidential decree, completely replacing the existing Yeouido Airport.

Following the construction of Gimpo, Yeouido Airport was totally demolished. It soon became the main airport of Seoul and South Korea in general. In 1971, a new combined domestic and international terminal was opened.

However, following the opening of Terminal 1 in 1977, the original terminal was converted to domestic flights only. Later, Terminal 2 was opened due to the Olympic Games.

However, Gimpo began to take more lights than it is capable of handling. Since 1980, Gimpo met a lot of problems, due to its lack of space to expand. A major problem is that it has a curfew, which means arrivals and departures are strictly prohibited during the night.

Due to these problems, the South Korean government decided to build a new airport. It was actually planned in Cheongju, 124 kilometers away from Seoul, but it was strongly opposed by Seoul and Gyeonggi Province citizens due to its inconvenience (it would be farther away than Viracopos Airport in Campinas, Brazil, which is approximately 80 kilometers away from the city of São Paulo).

Finally, the new site was decided to be nearby Yeongjong Island, a part of Incheon.

This was later known as Incheon International Airport. Shuttle flights to Haneda Airport in Tokyo started in November 2003 on a charter basis, cutting 30 minutes or more of ground transportation at each end in an attempt to attract business travelers.

This “City to city” route was followed by new routes to Hongqiao Airport in Shanghai starting in October 2007, Kansai Airport in Osaka starting in 2008, Beijing starting in July 2011, and Songshan Airport in Taipei starting in April 2012. Total international passenger numbers at Gimpo rose from under one million in 2005 to over four million by 2012.

Korea Airports announced an expansion and remodeling of the terminals in 2013, adding new gates and security checkpoints. In 2017, the Korean government announced that a new terminal would be built to meet growing domestic traffic.

Gimpo currently has two runways, two passenger terminals, and one cargo terminal. Gimpo International Airport, commonly known as Gimpo Airport, is located in the far western end of Seoul, some 15 km west of the Central District of Seoul.

Gimpo was the main international airport for Seoul and South Korea before being replaced by Incheon International Airport in 2001. In 2015, 23.1 million passengers used the airport, making it the third largest airport in Korea, as it has been surpassed by Jeju International Airport.

A bird’s eyeview of the remodeled Gimpo Int’l Airport. (Photos: KAC)

International Terminal at Gimpo Airport

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.
On 29 November 2003, scheduled services between Gimpo and Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan resumed. Services to Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport resumed on Oct. 28, 2007.
Services to Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan started on Oct. 26, 2008.
Services to Beijing Capital International Airport started on July 1, 2011.