Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Taipei Songshan Airport is a joint civil-military aerodrome sitting inside the Songshan District of Taipei City, within a few kilometres of the city centre and Taipei 101. Its single ILS-equipped runway handles a mix of domestic services, a handful of regional international routes to Japan, Korea and China, and Republic of China Air Force operations, making it a distinctive short approach over dense urban terrain for the simulator pilot.
Songshan is a city airport and military airbase in Songshan District, Taipei, shared between civilian air services and the Republic of China Air Force, whose Songshan Base Command exists primarily to serve the president and vice president of Taiwan. For a virtual pilot it is notable for its unusual setting deep inside the Taipei-Keelung metropolitan area, its single long paved runway with full ILS, and a history stretching back to Japanese colonial rule. It remains a hub for Mandarin Airlines and UNI Air and a focus city for China Airlines and EVA Air, giving it a busy but compact operating environment close to the skyline of downtown Taipei.
The airport lies in Songshan District in the heart of Taipei City, within the Taipei-Keelung metropolitan area, and its city-centre position means the surrounding airspace and approach paths are constrained by building height restrictions, including those imposed after the construction of the nearby Taipei 101 tower, which led to changes in departure and arrival procedures shortly before the tower's construction began.
Songshan has a single physical runway, 10/28, a hard-surfaced strip 8,531 feet in length, lit for night operations and served by an instrument landing system on both directions.
Radio services include Taipei Approach on 119.7 MHz, an ATIS broadcast on 127.4 MHz, Clearance Delivery on 121.2 MHz, Ground on 121.9 MHz and Tower on 118.1 MHz. The field is equipped with an ILS supporting instrument approaches to its runway.
The airport's position inside the Taipei city grid, close to Taipei 101 and the Songshan MRT station, provides a strong visual landmark for pilots orienting themselves toward the field, with building height restrictions around the aerodrome shaping the visual approach environment.
The airfield was built on 28 March 1936 under Japanese rule as Taihoku Airfield, also known as Matsuyama Airfield, and was used from 1937 by the Japanese Navy's Kanoya Air Group, including for a bombing mission against Chinese airfields at Jianqiao and Guangde in August 1937. A Japanese Army fighter training unit was based there from 1944, and the airfield was bombed repeatedly by US Army Far East Air Forces between March and August 1945. After the Second World War it was taken over by the Republic of China Air Force in 1946 and renamed Songshan Airport, initially providing routes between Shanghai and Taipei. Joint military and civilian operation began on 16 April 1950. Domestic services grew to link Kaohsiung, Hualien, Taichung, Penghu and Tainan, while early international destinations included Seattle, Tokyo, Busan, Manila, Bangkok and Hong Kong, flown by carriers such as Northwest Airlines, Pan Am and Hong Kong Airways. As jet aircraft and passenger numbers outgrew the site, international services were transferred to the newly opened Taoyuan International Airport in 1979, causing passenger numbers to fall sharply. The airport's certain standard instrument departure and arrival procedures were altered around 1999 to avoid conflict with the under-construction Taipei 101. Regular cross-strait charter flights to mainland China began on 4 July 2008, with Songshan taking the majority of these services, a development pushed for by then-mayor Ma Ying-jeou because of the airport's central location, despite concerns over building height restrictions, radio interference, noise and reduced capacity.
Songshan today handles domestic flights within Taiwan alongside international services to destinations including Tokyo, Seoul and select cities in China, operating as a hub for Mandarin Airlines and UNI Air and a focus city for China Airlines and EVA Air. The Songshan Air Force Base continues to share the field for military use, primarily in support of the president and vice president of Taiwan.