Gimpo International Airport (GMP) is an international airport located on the western edge of Seoul handling most of the domestic flights within Korea. Gimpo was the main airport of Seoul before being replaced in 2001 by the more modern and larger Incheon International Airport.
Arrivals is located on the first floor, check in is located on the second floor, and departures is located on the third floor.
The larger domestic terminal handles all domestic flights within South Korea except for a few flights arriving and departing from Busan and Jeju Island at Incheon International Airport. Flights departing from Gimpo, none more than an hour, fly to nine cities across the country.
The smaller international terminal serves limited amount of international flights to and from Shanghai, China and Tokyo, Japan.
The airport is now the third largest airport in Korea after Jeju International Airport. Over 19 million travelers passed through here in 2013.
History
The airport was built between 1939 and 1942 during World War II. It was built not by Korea but by Japanese forces during their occupation of the country.
During the Korean War, it was known as Kimpo Air Base. On June 28, 1950, the airport was captured by North Korean forces. On September 21, 1953, North Korean Air Force pilot No Kum-Sok defected to South Korea in his Soviet MiG-15 fighter jet. He landed on the airstrip at Kimpo Air Base. Operation Moolah awarded any pilot $50,000 to fly MiG-15 jets into South Korea. No Kum-Sok, unaware of the operation and money reward, decided to decline the money in exchange for free education in the United States.
On February 10, 1951, Kimpo Air Base was once again back in control of UN forces.
Getting to Seoul From Gimpo International Airport
Seoul Subway Line 5 and Line 9 both have links into southern Seoul and Gangnam. In 2007, the Airport Railroad (AREX) All Stop Train started operations from the airport to Seoul Station. The trip from the airport to Seoul Station takes about 20 minutes with four stops.