
Naha Airport

 is a second class airport located west of the city hall in Naha, Okinawa. It is Japan's seventh busiest airport and the primary air terminal for passengers and cargo traveling to and from Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, and handles scheduled international traffic to Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore and mainland China. The airport is also home to Naha Air Base of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.
Naha Airport served 17.5 million passengers in 2014, an increase of roughly 3 million passengers in two years.
History.
, an Imperial Japanese Navy airfield, opened in 1933. The base was taken over by the United States in 1945 and was renamed . Pan American World Airways and Northwest Orient began service to Naha in 1947.
The airport was closed for refurbishment between 1952 and 1954. Japan Airlines began service to Okinawa during this time and initially used Kadena Air Base.
Air America operated interisland flights to Miyako and Ishigaki from 1964 to 1967, when Southwest Airlines (now Japan Transocean Air) took over these routes.
Okinawa was returned to Japan in 1972. In 1982, Naha Airport was transferred from US military control to the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.
The basic and detailed design engineering works in addition to the later construction management phase of the main passenger terminal were awarded in the 1990s in part to the Japan Branch of the American design-build engineering company, The Austin Company, which joined Japanese firms in a joint venture design consortium.
Peach, a low-cost carrier based at Kansai International Airport in Osaka, announced that it would establish its second hub at Naha in July 2014, which would initially have flights to Osaka, Fukuoka, Ishigaki and Taipei. ANA Holdings, the parent company of both Peach and Vanilla Air, opened a new LCC terminal in a refurbished portion of the airport's cargo area in October 2012, and plans to open new international facilities in October 2014.
Development.
The airport has been undergoing major development projects that will continue to transform the airport:
Airlines and destinations.
Cargo service.
All Nippon Airways operates an overnight cargo hub at Naha Airport, which receives inbound Boeing 767 freighter flights from key destinations in Japan, China and Southeast Asia between 1 and 4 a.m., followed by return flights between 4 and 6 a.m., allowing overnight service between these regional hubs as well as onward connections to other ANA and partner carrier flights.
The hub began operations in 2009; by 2013 it served eight cities, and ANA had chartered a Nippon Cargo Airlines Boeing 747 freighter to handle demand on the trunk route from Narita International Airport.
Access.
The airport is served by the Okinawa Urban Monorail (Yui Rail) which carries passengers from Naha Airport Station to the center of Naha, and to the terminal at Tedako-Uranishi Station in Urasoe. Bus service is also available to many parts of Okinawa Island.