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Gimpo Airport (Gimpo Gonghang (김포 공항; 金浦空港) in Korean; often romanized as Kimpo) was the main international airport for Seoul, and therefore for South Korea, until 2001, when Incheon International Airport took over. Its IATA Airport Code was SEL until 2001, when it was changed to GMP. Two airlines--Korean Air and Asiana Airlines--provide frequent domestic service to Gimpo Airport.
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 7, which was flying from JFK International Airport in New York City, New York to Kimpo via Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Anchorage, Alaska ran into Soviet air space and was shot down. All passengers died.
In 1987, Korean Air Flight 858, which was flying from Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates to Don Muang Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, to Kimpo was blown up midair by a bomb planted by North Korean agents. Everyone on board died after the plane exploded over the Andaman Sea.
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.
On November 29, 2003, scheduled services between Gimpo and Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan started, providing the only international link for both city airports.
