History
Kinmen Airport originated from a military base
which was established in 1949. It was located at
Si-hung, a small village on the eastern side of
the island. In June of 1951 the Defense Ministry
ratified Transasia Airways (TNA) to launch its
first flight to Kinmen and thus a once-a-week
routine flight began operation. Not until August
23, 1958 was the flight canceled, due to the
battle against Chinese Communists. |
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Then, Kinmen Airport moved to Shang-I, where it
is now located, and the Air Force began to take
the place of TNA in consideration of the war. As
passengers traveling between Kinmen and Taiwan
increased vehemently, the government had to
project civil flights on this island to meet the
demands of the people. Through communication
among the authorities concerned, the first civil
flight became possible and began upon operation
by FAT in September of 1987, sharing the same
apron and terminal building with the Air Force
at the airport. Since then, a new era of civil
flight on Kinmen has begun. Besides FAT, at that
time, many other airlines such as TNA, UIA, FOS,
GCA, EVA, and ULA joined the operation
afterwards.
Taking the unceasing growth of passengers to
Kinmen into consideration, the CAA (Civil
Aeronautics Administration) also coordinated
with the government’s general construction plan
to spend NT$ 1. 5 billion and build a new civil
airport to the northeastern side of the military
airport. On March 1st, 1994 Kinmen Civil Airport
was formally established, aiming at providing
much more safety, convenience, and comfort for
the passengers, and promoting the progress and
prosperity of Kinmen.
It
has been almost eight years since Kinmen Airport
was constructed. The airport has well served an
average of 1.2 million passengers every year to
help contribute a great deal to the development
of Kinmen’s tourism and transportation. It is
also highly appraised by passengers and
visitors, as well as the local inhabitants. As
soon as it took over Kinmen Airport on March 3rd
of 2000, CAA pulled off the improvement of
facilities, flight security, and quality of
service at the airport. |