Pleiku Airport

For the Vietnam War military use of this facility, see Pleiku Air Base

Pleiku Airport (IATA: PXU, ICAO: VVPK) (Vietnamese: Sân bay Pleiku) is a regional airport located near the city of Pleiku within Gia Lai Province in southern Vietnam.

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History

Pleiku Airport was little more than an undeveloped air strip in December 1962 when it was designated by the South Vietnamese Air Force (VNAF) as Air Base 62. It was expanded during the Vietnam War and became a major air base for the VNAF and United States Air Force activities, but never reached the saturation and population proportions of the major air bases of the coastal lowlands. After 1975, it was developed into a civil airport.

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Pleiku

Pleiku (Vietnamese: "Pờ-lây-cu") is a city in central Vietnam, located in that nation's central highland region. It is the capital of the Gia Lai Province; Many years ago, it was inhabited primarily by the Bahnar and Jarai ethnic groups, sometimes known as the Montagnards or Degar. But now, it is inhabited primarily by Kinh ethnic group. The town is the centre of the urban district of Pleiku which covers an area of 261 km².

As of 2003 the district had a population of 186,763. The city sits at the junction of several national roads—National Road 14 to Kon Tum in the north and Buôn Ma Thuột in the south and National Road 19 to Stœng Trêng in Cambodia in the west (via Ratanakiri Province) and to Bình Định Province in the east. The city is home to the Hoàng Anh Gia Lai football club. Pleiku is served by Pleiku Airport in the near outskirts of the city.

History

Pleiku was strategically important during the Vietnam War because it was the primary terminus of the military supply logistics corridor extending westwards along Highway 19 from the coastal population center and port facilities of Qui Nhơn. Additionally, its central location on the plateau, between Kon Tum in the north, Buôn Ma Thuột to the south, and the North Vietnamese Army's base areas inside Cambodia to the west made Pleiku the main center of defense of the entire highland region of the Republic of Vietnam. This was obvious to both sides; the United States established an armed presence very early in the conflict at Camp Holloway, and the Việt Cộng attack on this base in early 1965 was one of the key escalating events that brought U.S. troops into the conflict.On 15 June 1972, Cathay Pacific Flight 700Z, operating a Convair 880 (VR-HFZ) from Bangkok to Hong Kong, disintegrated and crashed while the aircraft was flying at 29,000 feet (8,800 m) over Pleiku, Vietnam after a bomb exploded in a suitcase placed under a seat in the cabin, killing all 81 people on board.