is an airport located west southwestAIS Japan
of

Matsuyama file:Matsuyama city office Ehime prefecture Japan.jpg, 270px, Matsuyama City Hall file:Ehimekencho-20040417.JPG, 270px, Ehime Prefectural Capital Building is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku in Japan ...

Ehime is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,342,011 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Tokush ...

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 ...

History

The airport opened as an

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

airfield in 1941. At the end of the war it served as the base for the 353th Fighter Squadron which defended against B-29s' raid. The airport then became under the administration of the

British Commonwealth Occupation Force The British Commonwealth Occupation Force (BCOF) was the British Commonwealth taskforce consisting of Australian, British, Indian and New Zealand military forces in occupied Japan, from 1946 until the end of occupation in 1952. At its peak, t ...

and became a country-administered civil airport in 1952. During the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, the airport was used by the US and British Military. It was the first airport in

Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...

to see jet service following a runway extension project in 1972. An office park named "Biz Port" opened near the airport in 2003 to attract technology businesses, but is scheduled to close on 1 April 2015. In 2013, the government of

Ehime Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,342,011 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Toku ...

and local business organizations announced that they would begin subsidizing the airport's international routes to Shanghai and Seoul, which had seen load factors of less than 50% in June 2013.

Accidents and incidents

* On 13 November 1966,

All Nippon Airways Flight 533 All Nippon Airways Flight 533, registration JA8658, was a NAMC YS-11 en route from Osaka, Japan, to Matsuyama on the island of Shikoku. It was the fifth crash in Japan in 1966 and the second one experienced by All Nippon Airways that year, the f ...

crashed in the sea just few miles away from the airport, killing all 50 people onboard. The cause was never determained. On this occasion, airport authorities across the country start planning a runway extension project and installation of aeronautical navigation systems including ILS on every Japanese airports. *On 26 October 2013, a small propeller aircraft inbound from

Kikai Airport , also known as Kikaijima Airport or Kikaiga Shima Airport, is located in Kikai, a town on Kikaijima (also known as Kikai Island, Kikaishima, Kikaigashima, etc.), one of the Amami Islands in the Kagoshima Prefecture of Japan. History An airstri ...

crash-landed on the runway at around 6:30 p.m., forcing a temporary closure of the airport.

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

References

{{authority control Airports in Japan Transport in Ehime Prefecture Buildings and structures in Ehime Prefecture Matsuyama, Ehime Airports established in 1941 1941 establishments in Japan