The Taipei Songshan Airport, which was established while Taiwan was under Japanese occupation, is located on the fringes of Taipei city. At that time, the airport was surrounded by mountains, farm lands, and connected to the town center via a single pebble/dirt road. After the R.O.C. Government reclaimed the sovereignty over Taiwan in 1946, the airport was managed by the Chinese Air Force and opened to the public. Before 1948, China Airline provided two flight routes: one from Shanghai to Taipei and another from Shanghai to Taipei via Fu-Chou using DC-3 and C-46 aircraft. The only facility available then was a waiting room which was used also fore airline operations.

The R.O.C. Civilian Aeronautics Administration was moved to Taiwan from mainland China in 1949. Because the airline operations were vital to Taiwan's economic development, the Executive Yuan designated the Taipei Songshan Airport as a combined international and domestic airport. Construction of the aviation industry soon followed. On April 16, 1950, the "The Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Civil Aeronautics Administration Taipei Airport" was then established on the same site of the airport facilities including the runway and waiting/operation structure. At that time, the airport had only one small waiting room and a 1000-meter runway shared with military. China Airline had already stopped the flight routes to Taiwan, air service was provided by the Civil Air Transport Group which flew between Taipei and Hong Kong by using C-46 and C-47 aircraft. There were only a few dozens of passengers and a handful of flight arrivals and departures per day. Fu-Shin AirWay was organized with funds raised domestically in March 1951. It offered a Taipei--Hwalien route and another Taipei--Hwalien--Kaoshiung route with the PBY amphibious planes. (The airline has since ceased operation.) Attracted by the huge market potential of the Taiwan route, several foreign airlines requested to operate international routes to Taiwan. They included the North-West Airline, Pan American Airline, Hong Kong Airline (which has since been renamed as Cathy Pacific). The destinations of these airlines reached Seattle, Tokyo, Pu-San, Manila, Bangkok, and Hong Kong. After subsequent expansion of it fleet and routes, the Civil Air Transport Group, its routes covered all the above mentioned overseas destinations as well as domestic routes to Taichung, Tainan, and Makung. The Civil Air Transport Group was restructured and established the Civil Airline in February 1955. To keep pace with the steady growth, several infrastructures such as extending the runway to 1600 meters, building another taxiway, enlarging the waiting room, constructing one parking lot were carried out. By then the number of passengers has gone over one hundred and the flight arrivals and departures numbered over a dozen a day.

From 1956, the airport entered the development phase. and U.S. Aid funds were used for aviation construction. The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) decided to construct a new runway and taxiway to accommodate and improve the safety of larger aircraft. A new 2300-meter long and 60-meter wide runway and three taxiways were planned and constructed during the 1955--January 1957 period. The runway was later expanded to 2605 meters and the number of taxiways increased to five to ensure jumbo jet plane landing, take-off, and taxing safety. The apron was also expanded to 160,000 square meters with 18 lots.

Expansion of the waiting room was accomplished to meet the demand of the increasing air traffic. Since the space on the south-western corner shared by the military and civilian sides was limited, the CAA reached agreement with the Department of National Defense to have the military facilities moved to the eastern side to make room of 230,000 square meters for further expansion by the CAA. The Air Force completed the move in April 1961. Construction of a new main terminal building, roads and parking lots were finished at the end of 1963 and began operation in February 1964.

With the economic booming in the 1960s, air transportation also grew quickly. The main terminal building was getting crowded and subsequently expanded in 1969. New construction included a new inspection room, boarding gates, and domestic flight waiting room in the expanded western wing of the main terminal building. In addition, a cargo terminal building was built and cargo equipments were improved. These were completed on October 20, 1971 two years after the start of construction. Several facilities like roads, parking lots, and the water fountain were also added to make the airport one of the best in Southeast Asia.

Up to 1971, new foreign airlines added are Japan Airline, Malaysian Airline, Indonesia Airline, etc. with routes extending to Japan, Korea, Southeastern Asia, and the United State. Five Taiwanese-owned airlines, China Airline, Far East Airline, 永興、永安、 and 大華 offered routes coving all major domestic cities and offshore islands. Take 1971 for example, international and domestic flight arrivals and departures reached 127, and passengers reached 5043, and cargo reached 148 tons a day.

With the completion of facility expansion and improvement initiated since 1972, organization, personnel and services of the airport are also enlarged. Important facilities in the airport included one 2,605-meter long and 60-meter wide runway, five taxiways for a total of 5,700 meters in length and 22.5 meters in width, 174,000 square meters of apron with 22 lots, two 7500-square-meter hangers, five car parks covering 24,000 square meters with 700 parking lots. The main building covers 46,000 square meters of which 43,000 square meters were allotted for international lines and about 2,400 square meters for domestic lines. A bonded warehouse covering around 1,200 square meters, a cargo warehouse on about 13,500 square meters, a water fountain with around 1000 tons of stored water for both landscaping and emergency usage were built.

Other new facilities added included two air raid shelters for 3,000 people, eight baggage conveyor systems (two circular and six belt systems), five escalators, four elevators, six air bridges connecting the boarding gates and the aircraft, fourteen exit immigration counters, twenty entry inspection counters, one broadcasting system, one cable TV system, numerous loud speakers and televisions, a telephone system with 600 phones, one 1,200-ton-BTU central air conditioning system, seven cabinet style air conditioners, one high voltage power distributor, one 3,000-kilowatt emergency power supply, eight fire fighting trucks, and one ambulance.

Airliners serving the international lines included China Airlines, North-West, Singapore, Philippines, Korea, Continental, Cathy Pacific, Malaysia, Thailand, Air Japan, Flying Tiger, Mediterranean, Luxemburg, and Neru. This airport was well connected to all major international destinations such as Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, America, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Bombay, Middle East, Neru, Guan, and Luxemburg. Airlines serving the domestic lines were China Airlines, Far East, Taiwan, and Yunghsing with connection to Kaohsiung, Hwalien, Taichung, Chiayi, Makung, Taitung, Tainan, etc. with some extended to offshore islands including Lanyu, Luitao, Chimei and Wangan.

In upgrading the service, various government agencies were represented and stationed at the airport. They included the Taipei Customs Office of the Finance Ministry, Identification Inspection Service of the Police Administration of the Interior Affairs Ministry, Taipei Quarantine Station of the Executive Yuan Department of Health, Bureau of Merchandise Examination of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Coordination Center of the Garrison Command, Import/Export Service Center. Combined service stations were set up at the airport in the exit lounge and the corridors. Special service personnel were made available to assist the passengers. The National History Museum set up service counters and window displays of traditional Chinese art and sell reproduced artifacts and magazines. In addition, other services and government agencies including the post office, telephone and telegraph office, bank, insurance, the Tourist Bureau, oversea Chinese service counter, the Tobacco and Wine Monopoly, the Grand Hotel, and duty-free stores all became available and part of the airport.

By the end of 1987, the airport handled 188 flights, 17,078 passengers, 385 tons of cargo a day. During this period, burden continued to be brought on by the increased number of flights, the advent of wide-body jumbo planes, and increasing deterioration of the runways. In order to ensure safety and keep airport operations unhampered, repair work of the runways were done at night time that was stressful for the workers physically and mentally. The influx of large number of passengers brought in by the jumbo planes at peak time prolonged customs clearance to the irritation of passengers. Improvements were made by better utilization of available space and streaming the inspection and customs procedures. However, the problems persisted because of continuing increase in passengers. The problems were not solved until after international flight operations were relocated to the Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport.

After inauguration of the Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport on February 26, 1979, all international flight operations were moved there from this airport. This airport was delicated to provide only domestic service from then on. The first order of business was to convert the former international departure lounge to a domestic one. The conversion took one month to complete and the lounge started operation on March 29. Public reception of the new lounge was positive because of its pleasing appearance and excellent facilities. The remaining space accommodating the former domestic departure lounge, arrival lounge, the second floor boarding gates, transit corridor, and the west-wing office area and restaurant were rented to the Taipei World Trade Association. Part of the second floor of the waiting lounge was loaned to the Foreign Trade Association of the Tourism Bureau.

As part of a facility upgrade, several improvements were made. First of all, the runways were repaired. Due to the international lines' removal, there were no more night flights; therefore allowing more time and flexibility for construction work. During the period of 1980 and February 1982, runways were re-surfaced with AC with good results. Secondly, boarding corridors were added. Along with the relocation of international flights, air bridges were also moved to the Chiang Kai-shek International Airport; thus exposing the passengers directly to the elements. As a remedy, a corridor facing the apron with six side extensions along the parked aircraft were built to facilitate boarding and deplaning. The corridors were finished on April 28 1981, and well accepted by the passengers as well as the airlines. Thirdly, the fire alarm system was enhanced. The old fire alarm system had then been rendered unserviceable by the re-partitioning of the terminal interior. Installation of a new system was completed in October 1984. Besides, perimeter fencing and taxiways were all reinforced.

With the completion of new highways and railway electrification, the Far Eastern Airline crash, and economic slow-down, domestic air transportation began to decline from 1979. The decline bottomed out in 1982, and started to reclimb along with the economic recovery in 1983. Take 1986 for example, the airport handled 62 flights, 5,642 passengers, and 21 tons of cargo a day. However, as a result of the completion of freeways and the North Loop railway, flight from Taipei to Taichung and Chiayi were discontinued. Meanwhile, the number of passengers between Taipei and Hwalien dropped sharply.

On the heels of the lifting of mainland travel ban by the government, initiation of a more open policy vis-a-vis overseas tourist travel, promotion and liberaalization of foreign trade during the 1980s, overseas travel began to flourish, commercial activities became active, and as a result, the aviation market began to rebound. In 1987, the government allowed the application of new airliners which led to the emergence of several new airlines. New aircraft, new routes and flights were added one by one. The love of flying rose sharply. Increasing demand for seats became more burdensome to the airport. In addition to China Airlines and Far Eastern Airlines, several new airlines joined the rank including Fuhsing, Yunghsing, Taiwan, Makung, Central Asia, Tahua and Eva airlines in the pace of five years. The number of aircrafts using this airport increased to 28 and included various types such as SD-360 、 HS-748 、 ATR-72 、 BAE-146 、 ATR-42 、 DHC-8 、 SAAB-340 、 BN-2A 、 and MD-82. In 1991, the traffic handled averaged to 188 flights, 11,484 passengers, and 38 tons of cargo a day.

In coping with the increasing number of aircraft and operational volume, improvement in the work space was made. In 1989, the ageing runways were reinforced with AC. In 1990, an overall terminal refurbishing got underway. Work of the project included the ground, second and third floors and the addition of six air bridges. Construction began in 1991. On the first floor, four check-in counter islands and a baggage conveyor system were put in place, and airline office space built. On the second floor, a waiting lounge, inspection room and interior waiting room were added. Total waiting lounge and interior waiting room space after the refurbishing amounted to 5,354 and 7,240 square feet respectively. Airline operation counter space was 2,554 square feet. In keeping pace with on-going structural construction, many other facilities were upgraded including air conditioning conduit pipes, water supply, electric lights, new wiring, switch boxes, and sanitation facilities. Also added gradually were FIDS boards on the ground and second floors, special dedicated elevators for the handicapped, fire alarm and extinguishing system, and new broadcasting system by the end of 1992. All of these contributed to the all-weather condition comfort and convenience of the passengers.

Air traffic reached a new high as a result of the worsening congestion of ground transportation, entry of new airlines into the aviation market, introduction of more varieties of bigger aircraft, increased use of the airport by the military, and completion of the flight network since 1996. Meanwhile, boarding procedures were streamlined by eliminating passenger identification inspection. This, along with the enhanced convenience and comfort of travel, all contributed to the boom. During the period of six years from 1991 to 1996, annual growth rate of passenger was 22.1%, 41.4%, 25.5%, 29.2%, 22.8%, and 22.8% respectively. In 1996, average daily arrivals and departures were 530 flights. Passengers and cargoes handled daily were numbered at 41,600 and 96 tons respectively. Again, the airport was confronted with inadequacy of facilities.

In responding to the traffic growth trend, the airport did not cease to improve its facilities and services. Examples of these efforts included: a two-phase expansion of the northern apron, a new heliport, two new air bridges, an automatic fire extinguishing sprinkler system, an automatic information kiosk, resurfacing of apron lanes, refurbishing and extending of corridors along the apron, a new third hangar, an automatic parking lot billing system, planning of a vertical parking lot, improvement of sanitation facility management, increased power supply and safety inspection, organization and reinforcement of personnel training in emergency and crisis management, etc.

In 1997, the number of passengers handled throughout the year reached an all time high of 15,390,000. The number decreased by 10% in the succeeding two years as a result of improvement in ground transportation brought on by the second super highway, and the two crashes of 1998. In 1999, daily arrivals/departures and passengers averaged 490 and 38,000 respectively. Although traffic volume saw a slight decline, space in the terminal remained refraining. In addition to the new check-in counters and waiting lounge to accommodate flights to Taichung, Chiayi, Pingtung and Matsu in the west wing, waiting lounges in both the east and west wings, the security inspection area, arrival lounge, signage, commercial facilities were also upgraded to provide a more comfortable and convenient environment.

In summation, this airport has provided service to a total of 166,000,000 passengers and 243,000 flight operations. Under the supervision and assistance of CAA, the Air Force, the various government agencies stationed at the airport, and the past 12 directors, this airport was able to turn in an outstanding record. Staff of this airport shall endeavor to elevate the service standards and continue to serve the public in the same tradition of distinguished performance of the past.