The airport originally started out as a runway built by US 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 1 domestic and 2 international terminals before its international function was replaced by Incheon. Gimpo currently has two runways, 3,600m × 45m and 3,200m × 60m.
Gimpo airport is located south of the Han River, west of Seoul, in the city of Gimpo in the Gyeonggi province. 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. For 500 Won (roughly 50 cents US at the time), one could take the subway from Gimpo Airport all the way into downtown Seoul. The airport is still served by the subway, as well as by buses to Seoul and to Incheon International Airport.
In 1983, a Korean Air flight that was supposed to land here, Korean Air Flight KAL-007, ran into Soviet air space and was shot down. All passengers died.
If Project Bojinka had not been discovered after a fire in Manila, Philippines, one or more aircraft owned by a U.S carrier/s flying to this airport would have blown up over the Pacific Ocean on January 21, 1995 as part of the project's first phase.
In 1998, a Korean Air Boeing 747 that had taken off from this airport, crashed before landing at General Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport, killing all but 37 of its passengers.
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