New Japanese airport serving Mount Fuji opens for business; JAL operates first flight
5th June 2009 | Airport Analysis | 2 Comments » |
| A new airport - Mount Fuji Shizuoka - opened in Japan yesterday. JAL and ANA both serve the airport; the inaugural flight was a JAL service to Fukuoka. |
It’s not everyday that a new airport opens so congratulations to everyone involved in getting operations underway at Mount Fuji Shizuoka (FSZ) airport in Japan. The airport is located between Nagoya and Tokyo and is less than 200 kilometres from both airports but serves a catchment area of almost four million people.
Operations were put back from a planned start date in March due to environmental and noise issues which have resulted in the effective runway length being shortened from 2,500 metres to 2,200 metres. The hours of operation are from 08:30 to 20:00 and there is currently free parking for up to 2,000 cars.
Mix of domestic and international routes; home of FDA
Japan’s two biggest airlines ANA and JAL are both serving the new airport and compete directly on the routes to Shin-Chitose. Fuji Dream Airlines (FDA), a new airline which will be based at the airport begins operations towards the end of July using an Embraer E170 jet.
| Destination | Airline | WF (Aircraft) | Start date |
| Fukuoka (FUK) | JAL | 21 (MD90/E170) | 4 June 2009 |
| Kagoshima (KOJ) | Fuji Dream | 7 (E170) | 23 July 2009 |
| Komatsu (KMQ) | Fuji Dream | 14 (E170) | 23 July 2009 |
| Kumamoto (KMJ) | Fuji Dream | 7 (E170) | 23 July 2009 |
| Okinawa/Naha (OKA) | ANA | 7 (B737) | 4 June 2009 |
| Seoul (ICN) | Korean Air | 7 (B739) | 4 June 2009 |
| Seoul (ICN) | Asiana | 7 (A321) | 4 June 2009 |
| Shanghai (PVG) | China Eastern | 4 (A319/A320) | 5 June 2009 |
| Shin-Chitose (CTS) | ANA | 7 (B737) | 4 June 2009 |
| Shin-Chitose (CTS) | JAL | 7 (MD90) | 4 June 2009 |
| Source: Mount Fuji Airport, WF: Weekly frequency | |||
Apart from these scheduled services the airport has also revealed that there will be a number of charter services during the summer season operated by Cathay Pacific (to Hong Kong), Edelweiss (to Zurich), China Airlines (to Taipei) and Air Macau (to Macau).
June 6th, 2009 at 9:00 am
This airport is a tragedy. It’s only an hour by train from Shizuoka to Tokyo or to Nagoya, which both have well-connected airports, but for regional prestige the politicians decided they needed to pave Makinohara, an oceanfront plateau once covered with the most beautiful tea fields I’d ever seen. But hey, who needs green space when you can shave 30 minutes off that trip to Shanghai?
June 6th, 2009 at 9:07 am
This airport has nothing to do with Mt. Fuji, which is at least 70 km away. It’s almost certainly faster to travel from Tokyo Haneda airport to Fuji City than to travel from this airport to Fuji. So the name is just a marketing tool, people.