is a public aerodrome located north of Fukui Station in the city of

Sakai is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its keyhole-shaped burial mounds, or kofun, which date from the fifth century and inclu ...

Fukui Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Fukui Prefecture has a population of 778,943 (1 June 2017) and has a geographic area of 4,190 km2 (1,617 sq mi). Fukui Prefecture borders Ishikawa Prefecture to the north, G ...

, Japan. It is also referred to as from its location in former Harue town.

History

Work began on Fukui Airport in 1964, and the airport was opened in 1966, with

All Nippon Airways , also known as ANA (''Ē-enu-ē'') or is an airline in Japan. Its headquarters are located in Shiodome City Center in the Shiodome area of Minato ward of Tokyo. It operates services to both domestic and international destinations and had m ...

(ANA) proving regularly scheduled services using a

Fokker F-27 The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Europe ...

Haneda Airport , officially , and sometimes called as Tokyo Haneda Airport or Haneda International Airport , is one of two international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the other one being Narita International Airport (NRT). It serves as the primary ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, with flights once or twice a day. The

NAMC YS-11 The NAMC YS-11 is a turboprop airliner designed and built by the Nihon Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation (NAMC), a Japanese consortium. It was the only post-war airliner to be wholly designed and manufactured in Japan until the development of t ...

replaced the F-27 on this route from April 1, 1972. However, the airport suffered from competition by nearby

Komatsu Airport is an international airport located west southwest of Komatsu Station in the city of Komatsu, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. It is the largest airport in the Hokuriku region and serves the southern portion of Ishikawa Prefecture including the c ...

, whose longer runway could accommodate jet aircraft. Services between Fukui and

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most po ...

commenced from December 1, 1974 but all scheduled commercial flights were discontinued due to lack of passengers from March 1976. In 1985, the Fukui Prefectural government announced a plan to lengthen the runway at Fukui Airport to , and despite strong local opposition, a budget for the expansion was secured in the nation's 1986 Fifth Airport Improvement Budget. Local opposition remained strong, and improved bus and train connections to Komaki Airport resulted in less and less passengers to Fukui Airport. In 2001, the runway expansion project was shelved, and in June 2003 was cancelled in favour of pushing for completion of the

Hokuriku Shinkansen The is a high-speed Shinkansen railway line jointly operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and West Japan Railway Company (JR West), connecting Tokyo with in the Hokuriku region of Japan. The first section, between and in Nagano Pr ...

high speed train. From October 2006, flight operations at Fukui Airport were transferred to the jurisdiction of the

Chubu Centrair International Airport is an international airport on an artificial island in Ise Bay, Tokoname City in Aichi Prefecture, south of Nagoya in central Japan. Centrair is classified as a first class airport and is the main international gateway for the Chubu (" ...

in Nagoya.

Current situation

Fukui Airport is currently used primarily for

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

, and the aviation department of many universities conduct training operations here. Also, the airport is a center for glider sports, with a glider competition held annually. The Fukui Prefectural Police operates a Eurocopter EC135 and the Fukui Prefectural Fire Department operates a MBB/Kawasaki BK 117 from Fukui Airport.

References

Airports in Japan Transport in Fukui Prefecture Buildings and structures in Fukui Prefecture 1966 establishments in Japan Airports established in 1966 Sakai, Fukui {{Fukui-geo-stub