Gimhae International Airport

Gimhae International Airport (PUS) is the principal gateway to Busan — South Korea's second-largest city and its busiest port — and the country's fourth-busiest airport after Incheon, Gimpo and Jeju. Serving a metropolitan population of more than 8 million across the Busan–Ulsan–Gyeongnam region, PUS handles around 14 million passengers annually and is a key secondary hub for Korean Air, Asiana, Air Busan, Jin Air, T'way and Jeju Air. Busan's status as South Korea's southeastern export gateway makes PUS strategically important for the Korean supply chain as well as passenger traffic. PUS sits at the mouth of the Nakdong River in Gangseo-gu, about 14 km (9 mi) west of central Busan, at a very low elevation of 6 ft (2 m). Two parallel runways — 18R/36L at 10,499 ft (3,200 m) and 18L/36R at 9,007 ft (2,744 m) — handle civilian operations, though 18L/36R is primarily military, and all civilian departures approach a uniquely challenging northerly-only pattern because of the surrounding mountain terrain. The international terminal was expanded in 2017, and construction of a full replacement airport on Gadeokdo island — scheduled to open in stages from the late 2020s — is one of the largest infrastructure projects in Korean aviation history. Twenty-two airlines link PUS to 44 nonstop destinations, including dense Japanese networks to Tokyo Narita, Osaka Kansai, Fukuoka and Sapporo, major Chinese routes to Shanghai, Beijing, Qingdao and Hong Kong, Southeast Asian services to Bangkok, Manila, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City and Cebu, plus long-haul nonstops to Helsinki (Finnair) and Seattle. Its role as Korea's main low-cost carrier gateway and its position in the dense intra-Asia network keeps PUS consistently in the global top tier for Asia-Pacific secondary airports (2025).