is an airport located east southeastAIS Japan
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Wakkanai ' meaning "cold water river" is a city located in Sōya Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital of Sōya Subprefecture. It contains Japan's northernmost point, Cape Sōya, from which the Russian island of Sakhalin can be seen. As of 1 ...

Hokkaidō is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. Wakkanai is the northernmost airport in Japan that is capable of handling jet aircraft; due to its small size, it is susceptible to closures during the coldest winter months, in which case incoming aircraft are often diverted to

Asahikawa Airport , is a single-runway regional airport in Hokkaidō, Japan, straddling the cities of Asahikawa and Higashikagura. History Planning of the airport began in the late 1950s. The site was chosen in November 1960 and received government approval in ...

. It has one

jet bridge A jet bridge (also termed jetway, jetwalk, airgate, gangway, aerobridge/airbridge, skybridge, finger, airtube, expedited suspended passenger entry system (E-SPES), or its official industry name passenger boarding bridge (PBB)) is an enclosed, ...

, one apron gate for mid-sized jet aircraft, and two apron gates for commuter aircraft.

History

Wakkanai Airport opened to passenger traffic in 1960, initially on an irregular basis.

Air Nippon was a regional airline based in the Shiodome City Center complex in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of All Nippon Airways (ANA). Its main base was Tokyo International Airport. Code data In April 2004, Air Nippon ...

began scheduled service to

Okadama Airport is an airport located in Okadama-chō, Higashi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, north of the city center of Sapporo. Its scheduled airline service is limited to turboprop flights to other cities in Hokkaidō; larger aircraft use New Chitose Airport, ...

and Rishiri Airport in 1974, followed by Rebun Airport in 1978 and

New Chitose Airport is an international airport located south-southeast of Chitose and Tomakomai, Hokkaidō, Japan, serving the Sapporo metropolitan area. By both traffic and land area, it is the largest airport in Hokkaidō. It is adjacent to Chitose Air Ba ...

in 1980. Air Nippon discontinued the short Rebun and Rishiri commuter flights in 2003 due to poor load factors. In 1987, the 1,200 m main runway was extended to 1,800 m, allowing

All Nippon Airways , also known as ANA (''Ē-enu-ē'') or is an airline in Japan. Its headquarters are located in Shiodome City Center in the Shiodome area of Minato ward of Tokyo. It operates services to both domestic and international destinations and had m ...

to begin jet service to Tokyo. The flight was initially seasonal and did not become a year-round service until 1997. The city of Wakkanai provided subsidies for city residents to use the flight until 2005, when discounted fares became available. As of 2022, ANA has two scheduled daily round trips to Sapporo using

Bombardier Q400 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then by ...

turboprops, and one scheduled daily round trip to Tokyo (two from June to September) using

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two u ...

and

Airbus A321 The Airbus A321 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short to medium range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin engine jet airliners; it carries 185 to 236 passengers. It has a stretched fuselage which was the first derivative of the b ...

jets.

Airlines and destinations

Ground transportation

The airport is located on Japan National Route 238. However, since there is the runway, passengers cannot directly enter the airport terminal from the road. 12 km from central Wakkanai.

Busses

; Airport Terminal Bus stop This bus stop is located near the airport. ; Jidōsha Gakkō-mae Bus stop　''自動車学校前'' This bus stop is located on Japan National Route 238 in front of the Wakkanai Driving School. It takes about 10 minutes from here to this bus stop on foot through Hokkaido Prefectural Road Route 1059 and 121.

Railway

Until 1989, the JNR Tempoku Line passed by the airport; however, the airport did not have a station on the line except for one day in June 1987, when a temporary Higashi-Koetoi Station was opened to accommodate visitors to the airport's extended runway. :ja:東声問駅

References

External links

Wakkanai Airport Terminal (in Japanese)
{{authority control Airports in Hokkaido Wakkanai, Hokkaido Airports established in 1960 1960 establishments in Japan