is an airport located

Masuda is a city located in Shimane Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on August 1, 1952. As of December 2021, the city has a population of 44,976. As of December 2019, the city has a population of 46,209. As of March 2017, the city has a popul ...

Shimane Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a geographic area of 6,708.26 km2. Shimane Prefecture borders Yamaguc ...

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 north ...

. It is also known as Hagi-Iwami Airport due to its proximity to the city of Hagi in

Yamaguchi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 Square kilometre, km2 (2,359 Square mile, sq mi). Y ...

. It is a 2 or 3 hour drive from the old town of Iwami, its primary namesake.

Operation

There are two daily round trip flights from Tokyo. During late summer another daily round trip flight from Osaka is available for about a month. In late Summer the annual Inaka Ride'

cycling event course includes riding on the runway. In late Autumn the annual Hagi-Iwami Airport Marathon'

starts near the airport gateway and the starting course includes running on the runway. For both events the daily scheduled flights are not interrupted.

History

Iwami Airport opened in July 1993 with service to Haneda Airport, Tokyo Haneda and Osaka Itami. These services experienced weak passenger demand in the airport's first years of operation, despite local subsidies and reduced landing fees intended to make them more competitive. The Iwami-Haneda route boarded a record number of passengers in 2013 after

Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni is a United States Marine Corps air station located in the Nishiki river delta, southeast of Iwakuni Station in the city of Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. History The Japanese government bought a large portion of what is today MCAS I ...

opened for passenger flights, as this made it possible to create tour packages to

Izumo-taisha , officially Izumo Ōyashiro, is one of the most ancient and important Shinto shrines in Japan. No record gives the date of establishment. Located in Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, it is home to two major festivals. It is dedicated to the god , fam ...

Itsukushima Shrine is a Shinto jinja (shrine), shrine on the island of Itsukushima (popularly known as Miyajima, Hiroshima, Miyajima), best known for its "floating" ''torii'' gate.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric (2005)"''Itsukushima-jinja''"in ''Japa ...

and other regional attractions using both airports as gateways. Iwami's IATA airport code of IWJ was originally used by Iwakuni when it hosted international flights between 1952 and 1964.

Airlines and destinations

References

External links

Shimane Prefecture page about Iwami Airport
* * Airports in Japan Transport in Shimane Prefecture Buildings and structures in Shimane Prefecture Masuda, Shimane {{Shimane-geo-stub