Hengchun Airport (Chinese: 恆春機場; pinyin: Héngchūn Jīchǎng) (IATA: HCN, ICAO: RCKW) is an airport in Renshou Village, Hengchun Township, Pingtung County, Taiwan. The airport is near Kenting National Park and is the southernmost airport in Taiwan.
Hengchun Airport 恆春航空站 恆春機場 Héngchūn Hángkōngzhàn Héngchūn Jīchǎng | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Operator | Civil Aeronautics Administration | ||||||||||
| Location | Hengchun, Pingtung County, Taiwan | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 14 m / 46 ft | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 22°02′17″N 120°43′49″E / 22.03806°N 120.73028°E | ||||||||||
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  HCN Location of airport in Taiwan | |||||||||||
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Due to its location, the airport frequently experiences strong katabatic winds and is forced to close. Because of this, the load factor of the flights rarely exceeds 40%; airlines are considering filing applications for withdrawal of services to Hengchun.[1] Scheduled flights ceased in September 2014. In late May 2019, Taiwanese carrier, Uni Air has announced that they will be officially ending flights from Taipei Songshan Airport to Hengchun after they suspended flights from Taipei Songshan Airport to Hengchun back in September 2014.[2]
History
editThe airport construction was finished in 2003 and opened to public in January 2004 with a cost of NT$539,000,000.[3] However, since the opening of Taiwan High Speed Rail in 2007, there has been a sharp decline in the number of passengers using the airport. The airport has not processed any passenger since August 2014. The airport only served around 768 passengers in 2014, compared to 23,000 passengers in its inaugural year of 2004. In October 2015, the Civil Aeronautics Administration announced that they will make a decision whether to close the airport in the second half of 2016 due to the extremely low passenger rate.[4][5] In 2019, the last route was cancelled.[6]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Yahoo奇摩新聞".[permanent dead link]
- ^ "UNI Air ends Hengchun service in late-May 2019".
- ^ "welcome to Hengchun airport - Airport Introduction". Hca.gov.tw. Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
- ^ "Hengchun Airport to face possible closure next year - Taipei Times". 4 October 2015.
- ^ "Hengchun Airport could be turned over to military use - Society - FOCUS TAIWAN - CNA ENGLISH NEWS". 30 May 2016.
- ^ "不再「名存實亡」 立榮航空5/28起停飛恆春 - 生活 - 自由時報電子報". 自由電子報 (in Chinese). 19 May 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
External links
edit
Media related to Hengchun Airport at Wikimedia Commons
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