Fukuoka Airport

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Fukuoka Airport 福岡空港 Fukuoka Kūkō

IATA: FUK - ICAO: RJFF
Summary
Airport type		Military/Public
Operator		Ministry of Transport
Serves		Fukuoka, Fukuoka
Elevation AMSL		33 ft (10 m)
Coordinates		33°35′09″N, 130°27′02″E
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	ft	m	Surface
16/34	9,186	2,800	Asphalt

Fukuoka Airport (福岡空港, Fukuoka Kūkō^?) (IATA: FUK, ICAO: RJFF), formerly known as Itazuke Auxiliary Airfield, is an international and domestic airport in Fukuoka, Japan. It is officially designated a second class airport. It is currently operating at full capacity, and cannot be further expanded. Flights stop at 10 p.m. to allow local residents some peace and quiet, starting again at 7 a.m..

The airport is conveniently located for Fukuoka residents in Hakata-ku, South-East of the city centre. It is connected to the rest of the city by subway and road, and a subway from the airport to the business district takes less than ten minutes. Yet its very convenience raises questions and concerns about its safety.

Fukuoka Airport is the third largest passenger airport in Japan. In 2005, 18 million people used the airport, while there were 137,000 takeoffs and landings.[1]

From 1952 to 1972, Fukuoka Airport was the site of a United States Air Force base named Itazuke.[2]

1 Accidents and Safety Concerns
2 Alternative sites for the airport
3 Airlines and destinations
- 3.1 Domestic
- 3.2 International
4 External links

[edit] Accidents and Safety Concerns

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Airport diagram

There is only one runway of 2800 metres, which was originally constructed for propeller aircraft. The airport is surrounded by residential areas and the approach is reminiscent of the old Hong Kong airport, Kai Tak International.

Fukuoka airport was the site of an aircraft accident on June 13, 1996 when a Garuda Indonesia Airways DC-10, Flight 865, crashed on take-off, killing three passengers and severely injuring 18 more. The pilot appeared to hesitate about applying full throttle upon a single engine failure. The crash occurred within the airport perimeter when the aircraft was already airborne, nine feet off the ground. [3]

On August 12, 2005, metal fragments fell in a Fukuoka residential area from a JALways airplane bound for Honolulu after an engine briefly caught fire shortly after take-off. This underlines JAL's recent poor maintenance record. A boy and a man were injured by fragments. The airplane was forced to jettison fuel, return to Fukuoka airport and land there. The sight of flames coming from the engine was captured by a NHK film crew which happened to be recording because the service to Hawaii is soon to be withdrawn as it is unprofitable. [4] The Fukuoka prefectural governor Wataru Aso visited the school playground where the fragments fell and expressed grave concern.

[edit] Alternative sites for the airport

With Fukuoka's ambitions to become a hub for business and travel in East Asia - let alone the Mayor Mr. Hirotaro Yamasaki's stated ambition to bring the Olympic Games to Fukuoka and Kyushu in 2016 - Fukuoka City has been considering moving the airport further inland or to an offshore artificial island to accommodate increased traffic.

However, the idea of a new airport in the sea off Shingu has been opposed by environmentalists. The Gan-no-su coastal area has also been mooted, and it was the site of an airfield in the 1940s, but similar environmental concerns exist there.^{[citation needed]}

There is some debate as to whether a new airport is really needed, given the cost, the environmental problems and the nearby New Kitakyushu Airport (opened on March 16, 2006) which has 21-hour operation. Saga Airport is also under-utilized. A combination of the three airports appropriately used may provide a solution for the time being.

[edit] Airlines and destinations

[edit] Domestic

All Nippon Airways (Nagoya-Centrair, Okinawa, Osaka-Itami, Osaka-Kansai, Sapporo-Chitose, Tokyo-Haneda, Tokyo-Narita)
- Air Nippon (Fukue, Fukushima, Ishigaki, Komatsu, Niigata, Sendai, Toyama, Tsushima)
Amakusa Airlines (Amakusa)
Japan Airlines (Aomori, Hanamaki, Matsuyama, Miyazaki, Nagoya-Centrair, Nagoya-Komaki, Okinawa, Osaka-Itami, Osaka-Kansai, Sapporo-Chitose, Sendai, Tokyo-Haneda, Tokyo-Narita)
- J-Air (Kochi)
- Japan Air Commuter (Izumo, Kagoshima, Matsumoto, Tokushima)
- Japan Transocean Air (Okinawa)
Skymark Airlines (Tokyo-Haneda)