is an airport on the island of

Tokunoshima , also known in English as is an island in the Amami archipelago of the southern Satsunan Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The island, in area, has a population of approximately 27,000. The island is divided into three administrativ ...

, located in the town of Amagi, Ōshima District, Kagoshima Prefecture of Japan.

History

Tokunoshima Airport was opened on 23 February 1962 as a private venture by

Toa Domestic Airlines 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 ...

with a 1080-meter runway. The airport was turned over to Kagoshima Prefecture on 24 October 1970, and was designed a 3rd class airport by the Japanese government on 27 February 1973. The runway was extended to 1200 meters on 1 June 1973, and to 2000 meters on 1 June 1980, becoming the first amongst Kagoshima’s offshore airports to be capable of handling jet aircraft operations. In 2010,

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Yukio Hatoyama is a former Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan from 16 September 2009 to 8 June 2010. He was the first Prime Minister from the modern Democratic Party of Japan. First elected to the House of Representatives in 1986, Hatoy ...

offered the use of Tokunoshima to the United States as a relocation site for

Marine Corps Air Station Futenma is a United States Marine Corps base located in Ginowan, Okinawa, Japan, northeast of Naha, on the island of Okinawa. It is home to approximately 3,000 Marines of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and other units, and has been a U.S. military a ...

, leading to widespread protests.南日本新聞・特集「米軍移転計画」
(Japanese)

Airlines and destinations

References

*Yeo, Andrew. ''Activists, Alliances, and Anti-U.S. Base Protests''. Cambridge University Press. (2011)

External links

RJKN Tokunoshima 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, ...

'' * {{Japanese airports Airports in Kagoshima Prefecture