Songshan: The ups and downs of Taipei's 'other airport'

Taipei, Oct. 11 (CNA) Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) waded into a long-running debate last week with a proposal to close Songshan Airport and build an "AI park" in its place.

With the airport's future again under discussion, CNA has compiled a short history of the 90-year-old airport, which, especially in the last half-century, has seen its fortunes rise and fall in response to various events in Taiwan's development.

Early days

Songshan Airport was opened during Japanese rule in 1936 as Taihoku Airfield, becoming the first airport in Taiwan.

When the Kuomintang (KMT) government relocated to Taiwan in 1949 after losing the Chinese Civil War, it reestablished the airport as Taipei International Airport on April 16, 1950.

Operations at the facility gradually expanded over the following years, eventually handling flights by 14 international airlines.

Eclipsed by Taoyuan

That began to change in 1979, with the opening of the larger Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (renamed Taoyuan International Airport in 2006) in Taoyuan outside Taipei.

As international flights were gradually relocated, Songshan Airport shifted to focus on domestic flights, while facing a steep decline in passenger volume.

However, after Taiwan's government launched its "open skies" policy in 1987, deregulating the airline industry, Songshan's fortunes were revived, as new carriers opened and domestic flights rapidly expanded.

By 1997, passenger volume at Songshan Airport reached an annual high of 15.39 million people.

High-speed rail and the decline of domestic air travel

As the 2000s began, several factors -- including airline consolidation, the expansion of the highway system and the opening of Taiwan High Speed Rail -- caused a contraction in domestic air travel.

In 2002, annual passenger volume at Songshan fell below the 10 million mark, while the opening of Taiwan High Speed Rail in 2007 led to the cancellation of many flight routes across western Taiwan.

The following year, passenger volume at Songshan plummeted to 3.1 million.

Cross-strait, international flights offer a new lifeline

In 2008, regular weekend charter flights were launched between Taiwan and China, with Songshan being among the airports from which such flights were allowed.

Two years later, in 2010, Songshan Airport announced the launch of direct flights to and from Shanghai's Hongqiao Airport in June, followed by the opening of a direct service to Tokyo Haneda Airport in October.

In recent years, Taiwanese carriers have increasingly utilized Songshan for short-haul flights to destinations such as Japan and South Korea.

As of 2025, total passenger volume at Songshan stood at 5.62 million, with the number of passengers on international and cross-strait flights (3.02 million) exceeding those on domestic flights (2.60 million) for the second consecutive year, Civil Aviation Administration data showed.

Because of its location in central Taipei, Songshan is also frequently used by high-profile visitors to Taiwan, such as the 2022 visit by then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and visits by Nvidia founder Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on his private jet.

Current status

Supporters of removing Songshan Airport have noted that the airport sits on valuable real estate, and has limited Taipei's growth by forcing building height restrictions to be imposed over large swathes of the city.

In 2022, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate running in the by-election for Chiang's old legislative seat attracted attention with a proposal to replace the 213-hectare airport with a giant park.

In a statement on Oct. 8, however, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications defended Songshan Airport as an important hub for international flights connecting Taipei with Seoul, Tokyo and Shanghai, as well as domestic flights from Taipei to eastern Taiwan and outlying islands.

The airport also hosts Air Force deployments and the National Air Service Corps -- a key part of Taiwan's emergency rescue operations -- and thus plays an important role in air transport in Taiwan, the ministry said.