Friday, January 10, 2014

Go-ahead for Naha's second runway.

On January 9th, Okinawa Prefecture and the Naha Port Authority announced that they have received approval from all related parties, including local fishermen's cooperatives, to build Naha Airport's (OKA/ROAH) second runway. It will be constructed on a yet-to-be-reclaimed artificial island off the shore of the airport. Construction is slated to begin in February, with completion planned for September 2019, and a March 2020 target for operations launch.
Naha's second runway will be built offshore. (Image: Japan MLIT)

The runway will be 2,700 meters long, with a width of 60 meters. The current runway is 3,000 meters. Cost of the project is calculated at 199.3 billion JPY. Naha saw a record 14.8 million passengers for domestic and 600,000 for international for fiscal year 2012. Presently, it is served by 145 domestic flights daily, 62 international flights weekly, and 60 cargo flights weekly, making the single-runway airport increasingly congested, causing delays more frequently. Okinawa is targeting 10 million annual tourists.

In October 2012, Naha became the first Japanese airport to open a dedicated LCC terminal, which is currently being used by Peach Aviation (MM/APJ) and Vanilla Air (JW/VNL). Growing Peach has designated Naha its second hub, with the particular aim of using Naha to funnel passengers between the main islands of Japan and southeast Asia. Strategically located, All Nippon Airways (NH/ANA) also runs a scissors hub for its ANA Cargo operations here, connecting Japanese cities with other major destinations in Asia and providing next-day deliveries.

Source: Japan Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism (MLIT) (in Japanese)

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