Naha Airport
| Naha Airport 那覇空港 Naha Kūkō | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| IATA: OKA – ICAO: ROAH | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Public | ||
| Operator | Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport | ||
| Serves | Naha, Okinawa, Japan | ||
| Hub for |
| ||
| Focus city for | Skymark Airlines | ||
| Elevation AMSL | 11 ft / 3 m | ||
| Coordinates | 26°11′45″N 127°38′45″E / 26.19583°N 127.64583°E | ||
| Map | |||
  OKA | |||
| Runways | |||
| Direction | Length | Surface | |
| m | ft | ||
| 18/36 | 3,000 | 9,843 | Asphalt |
| Source: Japanese AIP at AIS Japan[2] | |||
Naha Airport (那覇空港 Naha Kūkō) (IATA: OKA, ICAO: ROAH) is a second class airport located 4 km (2.5 mi) west of the city hall[2] in Naha, Okinawa. It is Japan's seventh busiest airport and the primary air terminal for passengers and cargo traveling to and from Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, and handles scheduled international traffic to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, and China. The airport is also home to Naha Air Base of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.
Naha Airport served 14,495,054 passengers in FY2006. Its single 3,000 m (9,843 ft) runway handles in excess of 150 flights daily.
The airport is undergoing three major transformation projects. A second 2,700m runway is scheduled and budgeted for 2014 construction, to be finished in 2019 on reclaimed land.[3] In 2008, the government gave a go ahead to significantly expand the domestic terminal requiring the relocation of cargo facilities and the international terminal, it is expected to take 7 years to complete. In addition, a 6 lane Under bay tunnel for auto transport linking the airport with the Naha Port is expected to boost the usefulness of the intermodal facility was completed in 2011. This tunnel will also link a 2.6 hectare Free Trade Zone near the Airport and another 122 hectare one at Nakagusuku Bay.
The airport is served by the Okinawa Monorail which carries passengers from Naha-kūkō Station to the center of Naha, and to the terminal at Shuri Station near Shuri Castle. Bus service is also available to many parts of Okinawa Island.
History
Oroku Aerodrome (小禄飛行場), an Imperial Japanese Navy airfield, opened in 1933. The base was taken over by the United States in 1945 and was renamed Naha Airport (那覇飛行場). Pan American World Airways and Northwest Orient began service to Naha in 1947.
The airport was closed for refurbishment between 1952 and 1954. Japan Airlines began service to Okinawa during this time and initially used Kadena Air Base.
Air America operated interisland flights to Miyako and Ishigaki from 1964 to 1967, when Southwest Airlines (now Japan Transocean Air) took over these routes.
Okinawa was returned to Japan in 1972. In 1982, Naha Airport was transferred from US military control to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.
The airport was a popular connecting point between Taipei and Shanghai prior to the opening of direct flights between mainland China and Taiwan.
The basic and detailed design engineering works in addition to the later construction management phase of the main passenger terminal were awarded in the 1990s in part to the Japan Branch of the American design-build engineering company, The Austin Company, which joined Japanese firms in a joint venture design consortium.
Peach, a low cost carrier based at Kansai International Airport in Osaka, announced that it would establish its second hub at Naha in July 2014, which would initially have flights to Osaka, Fukuoka, Ishigaki and Taipei.[1]
Incidents
- On December 11, 1994, Ramzi Yousef planted a bomb on Philippine Airlines Flight 434, which exploded while the flight was en route from Cebu to Tokyo, killing one passenger and injuring ten other passengers. The plane made an emergency landing at Naha Airport safely.
- On January 31, 2001, Japan Airlines Flight 907, bound for Naha from Tokyo International Airport, nearly collided with another Japan Airlines aircraft. The Boeing 747 for Flight 907 suddenly dived and avoided a DC-10.
- On August 20, 2007, China Airlines Flight 120, a Boeing 737-800, was taxiing to the ramp after landing when suddenly a fire started beneath the right wing, quickly engulfing the entire plane. All passengers and crew members were evacuated safely. Investigations later revealed that part of the slat drive mechanism pierced the fuel tank, and the leaking fuel ignited when it came into contact with hot engine parts.
Airlines and destinations
Cargo service
All Nippon Airways operates an overnight cargo hub at Naha Airport, which receives inbound Boeing 767 freighter flights from key destinations in Japan, China and Southeast Asia between 1 and 4 a.m., followed by return flights between 4 and 6 a.m., allowing overnight service between these regional hubs as well as onward connections to other ANA and partner carrier flights.[9]
The hub began operations in 2009; by 2013 it served eight cities, and ANA had chartered a Nippon Cargo Airlines Boeing 747 freighter to handle demand on the trunk route from Narita International Airport. [10]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Yoshikawa, Tadayuki (21 January 2014). "ピーチ、那覇－福岡線開設 7月に第2ハブ稼働". Aviation Wire. Retrieved 22 January 2014.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 AIS Japan
- ↑ http://flyteam.jp/news/article/19108
- ↑ http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/air-nz-doubles-charter-flights-japan-ca-125001
- ↑ http://www.japanupdate.com/2013/05/jin-air-to-restart-daily-naha-seoul-flights/
- ↑ http://www.flypeach.com/Portals/0/PressReleases/2014/140121-Press-Release-E.pdf
- ↑ http://www.flypeach.com/Portals/0/PressReleases/2013/130731-Press-Release-E1.pdf
- ↑ http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/kyodo-news-international/130930/vanilla-air-launch-4-routes-including-2-intl-services
- ↑ http://www.ana.co.jp/cargo/ja/int/catalog/pdf/ana_cargo_service_guide_forwarder.pdf
- ↑ "全日空「沖縄貨物ハブ」上昇気流 国内外で路線拡充". 日本経済新聞. 24 August 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
External links
- Airport website (Japanese)
- Airports of Okinawa
- Naha Airport Guide from Japan Airlines
- openNav: OKA / ROAH charts
- Current weather for ROAH at NOAA/NWS
- Accident history for OKA at Aviation Safety Network
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
