Although domestic budget carrier Skymark Airlines is scheduled to start a daily roundtrip flight between Ibaraki and Kobe from April 16, the need for the 22-billion-yen airport has been called into question as it serves only 600 people a day for the time being, even if both the Asiana and Skymark flights are operated at full capacity.
A Skymark extraordinary flight from Kobe arrived at Ibaraki Airport in the morning as the first flight for the airport, the nation's 98th airport located about 80 kilometers northeast of Tokyo.
The opening day's flights also included a nonregular flight to Taipei by Taiwan's TransAsia Airways and a similar flight to Hawaii by Japan Airlines, in addition to Asiana's regular daily flight to Seoul's Incheon airport.
The airport was built on the Air Self-Defense Force's Hyakuri base in the city of Omitama, Ibaraki Prefecture, with the prefecture managing the airport terminal building. The airbase facilities were redeveloped to be shared by the ASDF and commercial airlines with the addition of a second 2,700-meter runway.
"We'd like to invite more airlines by providing good services to budget carriers as a selling point," Ibaraki Gov. Masaru Hashimoto said in an opening ceremony.
The airport is farther from downtown Tokyo than Haneda Airport, located on Tokyo Bay, and Narita International Airport, about 60 kilometers east of Tokyo, but it will be less congested and relatively cheaper to use the facilities, the Ibaraki prefectural government says.
But Ibaraki Airport opened with an unusual situation. There was no regular domestic flight due to Skymark delaying its formal decision to start a regular daily roundtrip flight linking the airport and Kobe. The decision was made in February, forcing Skymark to start the service one month after the airport opens.
Two major domestic airlines -- All Nippon Airways and JAL, which is undergoing rehabilitation after filing for bankruptcy protection in January -- currently have no plans to operate regular flights to Ibaraki Airport, questioning the demand for the airport.
"We think it would be difficult to expect demand for Ibaraki, considering there are Narita and Haneda in the Tokyo metropolitan area," an ANA official said.
