or , is a third class airport located southeastAIS Japan
of Monbetsu, a city on the

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk ( rus, Охо́тское мо́ре, Ohótskoye móre ; ja, オホーツク海, Ohōtsuku-kai) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands ...

Hokkaidō is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

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 n ...

. The airport is 15 minutes from the city center and accessible by bus from the Monbetsu Bus Terminal.

History

MBE is the newest airport in

: it opened in November 1999. The airport was originally used 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 ...

flights. Flights were transferred from the original Monbetsu Airport, which was located further from the city.

Air Nippon was a regional airline based in the Shiodome City Center complex in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of All Nippon Airways (ANA). Its main base was Tokyo International Airport. Code data In April 2004, Air Nippon ...

inaugurated daily service to

New Chitose Airport is an international airport located south-southeast of Chitose and Tomakomai, Hokkaidō, Japan, serving the Sapporo metropolitan area. By both traffic and land area, it is the largest airport in Hokkaidō. It is adjacent to Chitose Air Ba ...

outside

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

that year, and added flights to Tokyo International Airport in 2000. The Sapporo service was moved to

Okadama Airport is an airport located in Okadama-chō, Higashi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, north of the city center of Sapporo. Its scheduled airline service is limited to turboprop flights to other cities in Hokkaidō; larger aircraft use New Chitose Airport, ...

in 2001 and discontinued entirely in 2003. For a short period between July and November 2011,

Hokkaido Air System , or HAC, is a regional airline that operates scheduled services in Hokkaidō and Aomori Prefecture, Japan from a main base of operations at Okadama Airport in Higashi-ku, Sapporo.Okadama Airport is an airport located in Okadama-chō, Higashi-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, north of the city center of Sapporo. Its scheduled airline service is limited to turboprop flights to other cities in Hokkaidō; larger aircraft use New Chitose Airport, ...

. In fiscal year 2008, Monbetsu Airport recorded an operating loss of 273 million yen on total revenues (chiefly landing fees received from ANA) of only 26 million yen, making its operating losses the highest among the six airports operated by the Hokkaido government. In 2011, the Hokkaido government announced that landing fees would be waived for international charter flights using the airport in an attempt to lure more overseas tourists to the region. In the winter of 2013, ANA again started services to Sapporo, flying a daily 737-700 flight to New Chitose Airport.

Airlines and destinations

The airport has a two-story, 1,993 m² terminal building which is open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

References

External links

*
Okhotsk Monbetsu Airport
at Monbetsu City website *

at Okhotsk General Subprefectural Bureau website *

terminal map from All Nippon Airways * *
{{Portal, Aviation Airports in Hokkaido