Daegu International Airport (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The l ...

: ;

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, ...

: ;

Revised Romanization Revised Romanization of Korean () is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. It was developed by the National Academy of the Korean Language from 1995 and was released to the public on 7 July 2000 by South Korea's Mini ...

: ''Daegu Gukje Gonghang''; McCune-Reischauer: ''Taegu Kukche Konghang'') is the international airport serving the city of

Daegu Daegu (, , literally 'large hill', 대구광역시), formerly spelled Taegu and officially known as the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; it is ...

and the surrounding area in the southeast of South Korea. The airport is also a military base for the ROKAF's 11th Fighter Wing, whose three squadrons fly the F-15K.

Overview

The airport chiefly serves domestic routes with a small number of international flights. Despite the growth of the nearby city of Daegu, passenger numbers at Daegu International Airport have been steadily declining since 2004, the year when KTX highspeed rail reached the city. The 2013 number of about 1.1 million passengers is around half of pre-2003 figures. Since in 2014, passenger numbers have increased sharply due to the expansion of

Low-Cost Carriers A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline (occasionally referred to as '' no-frills'', ''budget'' or '' discount carrier'' or ''airline'', and abbreviated as ''LCC'') is an airline that is operated with an especially high emphasis on minimizing op ...

. Because Daegu Airport is sharing with military, taking photograph or video of apron, runway and military facility is strictly prohibited.

History

Daegu International Airport was originally established under Japanese rule as Taegu Airfield on 31 January 1937.

Korean War

At the outbreak of the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

, the airfield consisted of a dirt and gravel runway and two concrete buildings. The airfield was designated by the

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

as K-2. The airfield was used as part of the Bout One project, an emergency program to train

Republic of Korea Air Force The Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF; ko, 대한민국 공군; RR: ''Daehanminguk Gong-gun''), also known as the ROK Air Force or South Korean Air Force, is the aerial warfare service branch of South Korea, operating under the Ministry of N ...

pilots to fly the

F-51 Mustang The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...

. The Bout One planes provided close air support to the U.S. 24th Infantry Division through July 1950. On 10 July 1950, the Bout One force was re-designated as the 51st Fighter Squadron, and was merged into the

12th Fighter-Bomber Squadron 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

on 4 August. The existing dirt and gravel runway was improved by the 822nd Engineer Aviation Battalion beginning on 18 July, and the Battalion subsequently began preparations for a parallel PSP runway on 7 August. USAF units based at Taegu from July–August 1950 included: * 18th Fighter-Bomber Group, from July–August 1950, subordinate units included: **

operating F-51 from 15 July 1950 * 51st Fighter Squadron (Provisional) from 10 July–August 4, 1950 * 6002nd Air Base Squadron from July–8 August 1950 * 6147th Tactical Control Squadron (Airborne) operating T-6 Mosquitos from 1 August–September 6, 1950 * 6149th Air Base Unit from August 1950 Taegu Airfield was abandoned following the North Korean attack on Taegu in mid-August 1950, but USAF units began reoccupying the base by 23 September 1950. The 822nd Battalion had returned to Taegu on 17 September and soon resurfaced the original dirt and gravel runway with PSP and extended its length to . USAF units based at Taegu from September 1950 included: * 49th Fighter-Bomber Group operating F-80s from 1 October 1950. This was the first jet unit to be based in Korea. Subordinate units included: **

7th Fighter-Bomber Squadron 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mytho ...

from 28 September ** 8th Fighter-Bomber Squadron from 29 September ** 9th Fighter-Bomber Squadron from 29 September *

543rd Tactical Support Group The United States Air Force's 543d Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group is an intelligence unit located at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas. It has been located there since 1997, when it was activated as the 543d Intelligence Grou ...

from 26 September, subordinate units included: ** 8th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Photo-Jet operating RF-80s from 2 October ** 162nd Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Night Photo from 8 October ** 363rd Reconnaissance Technical Squadron from 4 October In May 1951, the 930th Engineer Aviation Group began repair work on the PSP runway and commenced construction of a concrete runway. File:27th-fighter-escort-F-84E-49-2360.jpg, F-84E of the 27th Fighter Escort Group in 1951 File:Casualties are loaded on USAF C-54D Taegu 1951.jpg, Casualties being loaded onto a

C-54 The Douglas C-54 Skymaster is a four-engined transport aircraft used by the United States Army Air Forces in World War II and the Korean War. Like the Douglas C-47 Skytrain derived from the DC-3, the C-54 Skymaster was derived from a civilian ...

in 1951 File:F-86F 12th FBS at Taegu 1952.jpg, An F-86F of the 12th Fighter-Bomber Squadron at Taegu in 1952

Postwar

File:F-84G maintenance at Taegu AB 1954.jpg,

F-84 The Republic F-84 Thunderjet was an American turbojet fighter-bomber aircraft. Originating as a 1944 United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) proposal for a "day fighter", the F-84 first flew in 1946. Although it entered service in 1947, the Thun ...

engine maintenance in 1954 File:F-4D ROKAF w Sidewinders 1979.jpeg, ROKAF F-4D in 1979 File:An MH-53J Pave Low III helicopter from the 31st Special Operations Squadron at Osan Air Base sits on the flightline at Taegu Air Base, South Korea in support of Foal Eagle '93 DF-ST-94-01932.jpg, MH-53J at Taegu in 1993

Passenger facilities

The relatively small passenger terminal boasts a comfortable environment through its adoption of traditional design elements symbolizing ''Ouga'' (The song of five friend: water, rock, pine, bamboo, and moon; by Yun Seon Do), and its crane-like structure. The parking lot can accommodate about 1,097 cars and has a fully automated parking system; it opens from 6 am to 10 pm.

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

Traffic by calendar year

Access

The airport is 1.34 km from Ayanggyo Station (

Daegu Subway Line 1 Daegu Metro Line 1 was, until mid-2005, the only rapid transit line in the South Korean city of Daegu. It is operated by the Daegu Metropolitan Transit Corporation. The line color is carmine. The line first began running from Jincheon to Ju ...

) and can be reached by bus or taxi.

References

External links

Official Website
{{authority control Buildings and structures in Daegu Airports in South Korea Korean War air bases 1937 establishments in Korea