Matsumoto Airport (松本空港) , also known as Shinshu-Matsumoto Airport, is an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

located southwestAIS Japan
of central

Matsumoto Matsumoto (松本 or 松元, "base of the pine tree") may refer to: Places * Matsumoto, Nagano (松本市), a city ** Matsumoto Airport, an airport southwest of Matsumoto, Nagano * Matsumoto, Kagoshima (松元町), a former town now part of the c ...

Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the ...

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 ...

. Opened on July 16, 1965, Matsumoto Airport is located approximately 9 kilometers southwest of the center of Matsumoto city, straddling the border between Matsumoto and the city of

Shiojiri, Nagano is a city located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 67,240 in 27,602 households, and a population density of 230 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Shiojiri is located in central Na ...

. The airport is located roughly in the center of Nagano Prefecture. Regularly scheduled flights are for domestic service only. It is located at the highest elevation (657.5 m) of any commercial airport in Japan, and is surrounded by high mountains, which impose restrictions on the type of aircraft which can service the destination. The runway was lengthened to 2000 meters in 1994 to accommodate jet aircraft, and a new passenger terminal building started operation. In the past, the airport was served by

Japan Air System was the smallest of the big three Japanese airlines. In contrast to the other two, JAL and ANA, JAS' international route network was very small, but its domestic network incorporated many smaller airports that were not served by the two larger ...

, mostly using

MD-87 The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gener ...

aircraft before being integrated into

JAL JAL or Jal may refer to: Entertainment * Jal (band), a Pakistani pop/rock band * ''Jal'' (film), a 2014 Hindi film * Jal Fazer, a character in the British TV series ''Skins'' * "Jal", an episode of the British TV series ''Skins'' Places * Jal, ...

. In FY 2013 its load factors passed 70% for the first time since its expansion. The airport and surrounding region cater to mountaineers during summer months and to skiers during winter months. Japan Airlines operated regular service to Osaka until 2010. However, since recovering from bankruptcy, Japan Airlines has resumed seasonal service to Matsumoto Airport from Osaka Itami Airport using the

Embraer E170 The Embraer E-Jet family is a series of four-abreast narrow-body short- to medium-range twin-engine jet airliners designed and produced by the Brazilian aerospace manufacturer Embraer. The E-Jet was designed as a complement to the preceding E ...

aircraft. Other airlines from Korea, Russia and China occasionally fly charter flights to Matsumoto. The 2013 television movie, Big Airport 2013 ( 大空港2013) was set at the airport. The movie features

Teruyuki Kagawa is a Japanese actor, kabuki actor and boxing commentator. Biography Born in 1965, his parents are the kabuki actor Ichikawa Ennosuke III and the cinema actress Yuko Hama. His grandmother is the film actress Sanae Takasugi. In the Kabuki world ...

and was directed by

Kōki Mitani is a Japanese playwright, screenwriter, actor and film director and was previously married to Japanese actress Satomi Kobayashi. He was named after ''Taihō Kōki'', the youngest sumo wrestler to become yokozuna. He studied dramatics at Nihon ...

Airlines and destinations

References

External links

Shinshu Matsumoto Airport
from

Shinshu-Matsumoto Airport Guide
from

Japan Airlines , also known as JAL (''Jaru'') or , is an international airline and Japan's flag carrier and largest airline as of 2021 and 2022, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, as w ...

* * Airports in Japan Transport in Nagano Prefecture Buildings and structures in Nagano Prefecture Matsumoto, Nagano Shiojiri, Nagano 1965 establishments in Japan Airports established in 1965 {{Nagano-geo-stub