Nagasaki Airport (長崎空港, Nagasaki Kūkō) (IATA: NGS, ICAO: RJFU) is located off the coast of Ōmura, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. The airport was the first airport in the world to be built on the ocean, using an existing small island located in the center of Ōmura Bay, with land areas that were fully reclaimed.
Nagasaki Airport was built to replace the former airport called Omura Airport, which was located on the mainland and had a shorter runway of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft). The former airport was transferred to the Japan Self-Defense Force in 2011, and was renamed into Omura Air Base.
[edit]Aerial photograph of Nagasaki Airport under construction taken in 1974; the year before it opened. The former airport is located in the top right corner.
The mainland portion of the airport opened as an Imperial Japanese Navy airfield in 1923, and served as the main base for the now defunct 21st Naval Air Base. During World War II, several aircraft factories were constructed near the airfield and the base was used extensively for manufacturing and repairing many aircraft.[3][4] After the war, the airfield was converted into a civilian airport and was named Omura Airport (大村空港) in 1955. The terminal building was completed four years later in 1959.[5][6]
In the 1960s, Nagasaki Prefecture was considering building a new airport due to the shift in jet-powered aircraft and due to the number of flights increasing at the airport. Initially, the prefecture planned to expand the former airport, but the plan was abandoned, due to geographical issues.[5]
The Prefecture decided to construct the new airport on Mishima Island (Japanese: 箕島), an island located off the coast of the mainland in Ōmura Bay. Before the construction began, 66 residents in 13 households lived on the island and after several years of persuasion from prefecture officials, all of them agreed to move out so that the new airport could be built.[5][8]
Construction of the new airport began in 1972 and took three years to complete. Constructing the airport required flattening parts of the island's hills and reclaiming land around its shore, expanding it from 0.9 to 1.54 km2 (0.35 to 0.59 sq mi). Around the same time, the Mishima Ohashi Bridge (Japanese: 箕島大橋), a 970 meter long bridge, which connects the island from the mainland was built. Construction of the new airport cost around 18 billion yen.[8][9]
The current island runway and terminal opened on May 1, 1975,[8] and became Japan's first full-scale airport built over water.[10] It was also the first airport in the world to be built on the ocean.[8][10][11]
Nagasaki's first international service, to Shanghai, commenced in September 1979 and the main runway was extended from 2,500 m to its current length on the following year.[8][5]
On September 2, 1990, when the Nagasaki Travel Expo was being held in the city of Nagasaki, an Air FranceConcorde landed at Nagasaki Airport for the first time. An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 onlookers gathered at the airport, causing severe traffic jams.[12][13]
The mainland portion of the airport was abolished in 2011 and was transferred to the Japan Self-Defense Forces, where it was renamed into Omura Air Base.[14]
Before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hong Kong Express and China Eastern Airlines operated international flights to and from Hong Kong and Shanghai respectively. In February 2020, the two airlines suspended operations, and international flights at the airport temporarily ceased to exist. In October 2023, China Eastern Airlines resumed flights between Nagasaki and Shanghai after three years and eight months of absence.[15]
On July 26th 2008 at 5:25 PM, a privately-owned small plane (SOKATA TB-10 manufactured by Aérospatiale) crashed into Ōmura Bay 300 meters from the airport shortly after takeoff. All three passengers were rescued, but one suffered severe injuries and died two days later.
On June 29th 2017 at around 10:30 AM, a small plane used for pilot training owned by Sojo University (Beechcraft Baron 58) landed at the airport without extending its landing gear. The airport was closed for over three hours and 18 flights were cancelled. All three passengers onboard were unharmed.[21]
^"会社案内". 27 March 2018. Archived from the original on 9 July 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
^"第21海軍航空廠があった街". 大村観光ナビ (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2023-09-29. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
^"大村市の誕生と太平洋戦争"(PDF) (in Japanese). 大村市. Archived(PDF) from the original on February 19, 2024. Retrieved December 5, 2023.
^ abcd"長崎空港は世界初の海上空港！大村湾に浮かぶ小島が国際空港に変貌" [Nagasaki Airport is the world's first maritime airport! A small island floating in Omura Bay is transformed into an international airport]. まっぷるトラベルガイド (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2023-12-05. Retrieved 2023-12-05.
^"長崎と上海を結ぶ便が約4年ぶりに再開 空港で記念セレモニー" [Flights connecting Nagasaki and Shanghai resume after four years; commemorative ceremony is held at the airport]. NHK (in Japanese). 2023-10-30. Archived from the original on 2023-10-31. Retrieved 2023-11-13.
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