In 1944, the Japanese Army’s 37th Kyoiku Hikotai, a training unit equipped with Ki-61 fighters, was established at Matsuyama.

Many of its instructors later engaged in combat against American forces over Taiwan and Japan during the war’s final months.

[4] After World War II, in 1946, it was taken over by the Republic of China Air Force, and renamed to Songshan Airport.

[5] Before the end of the Chinese Civil War and the establishment of the People's Republic of China, the airport provided flight routes between Shanghai and Taipei, occasionally via Fuzhou.

[5] Shared military and civilian use—both domestic and international—began on 16 April 1950[6] in the reconstructed Civil Aeronautics Administration Taipei Airport (交通部民用航空局台北航空站).

The first international destinations were Seattle, Tokyo, Busan, Manila, Bangkok, and Hong Kong.

[10][11] In early 1999 when the construction of Taipei 101 had just started, Taiwan's Civil Aeronautics Administration changed this airport's certain SID and STAR procedures to avoid possible collision with the building.

In the 2002 and 2006 Taipei Mayor Election DPP candidates Lee Ying-yuan and Frank Hsieh both proposed the plan to close Songshan Airport, and developed its land into road, huge park, detention basin and sports arena, since the Taiwan High Speed Rail could quickly take up the traffic load between Taipei and western Taiwan cities, and the remaining service to outlying islands and eastern Taiwan could be easily taken over by the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport after the completion of the Taoyuan International Airport Access MRT System by the end of 2016.

[citation needed] Due to the introduction of Taiwan-China flights and future international potential, the airport is undergoing extensive renovations, the first phase of which is expected to be completed by October 2010.

A new international cargo terminal is being built in anticipation of a new air route between Taiwan and Japan.

[18] On 6 March 2009, Japan and Taiwan signed a memorandum of understanding on the revision of Taiwan–Japan bilateral traffic.

The airport will undergo upgrades to its runway and reduce its jet bridges from eight to six to accommodate wider contemporary aircraft such as the Airbus A330 and Boeing 767.