Kaohsiung International Airport, also known as Kaohsiung Siaogang Airport for the Siaogang District where it is located, is a medium-sized commercial airport in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. Kaohsiung International is the third busiest Taiwanese airport, after Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei Songshan Airport, in passenger movement.HistoryOriginally built as an Imperial Japanese Army Air Squadron base in 1942 during the Japanese rule era of Taiwan, Kaohsiung Airport retained its military purpose when the Republic of China government first took control of Taiwan in 1945. Due to the need for civil transportation in southern Taiwan, it was demilitarised and converted into a domestic civil airport in 1965, and further upgraded to an international airport in 1969, with regular international flights starting in 1972.During the 1970s and 1980s, direct international flights were rare at the airport, with Hong Kong and Tokyo being the only two destinations. Since the early 1990s, dedicated connection flights to Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (now Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport) were inaugurated. This brought southern Taiwan travelers much convenience, as they can transit via the Chiang Kai-shek International Airport where there was a higher availability of international flights. In the meantime, direct flights to Southeast Asia cities were gradually opened. This reduced the inconvenience that travelers in southern Taiwan needed to travel to Taoyuan in the north before flying south. These contributed to a steady growth in airport passenger and flight movements. A new terminal dedicated to international flights was opened in 1997.