Nagoya Airfield

Nagoya Airfield
名古屋飛行場
Nagoya Hikōjō

Main terminal building
IATA: NKMICAO: RJNA
Summary
Airport type Public
Location Komaki
Elevation AMSL 46 ft / 14 m
Coordinates 35°15′18″N 136°55′28″E / 35.25500°N 136.92444°E / 35.25500; 136.92444Coordinates: 35°15′18″N 136°55′28″E / 35.25500°N 136.92444°E / 35.25500; 136.92444
Map
RJNA

Location in Japan

Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
16/34 2,800 9,186 Asphalt concrete
Statistics (2014)
Passengers 668,710
Cargo (metric tonnes) 0
Source: Japanese AIP at AIS Japan[1]
Osaka Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Civil Aviation Bureau [2]
Airport Diagram
View form Airport Walk towards the field

Nagoya Airfield (名古屋飛行場 Nagoya Hikōjō), also known as Komaki Airport or Nagoya Airport, is an airport which lies within the local government areas of Toyoyama, Komaki, Kasugai and Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. It was an international airport but is now a domestic secondary airport serving Nagoya. (The current primary civil airport for Nagoya is Chūbu Centrair International Airport in Tokoname.)

It is the main hub for FDA (Fuji Dream Airlines), the only airline that offers scheduled transport service from the airfield. It is also used for general aviation and as an airbase.

Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation is headquartered in the airport's terminal building, and its parent company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries produces the Mitsubishi Regional Jet aircraft at a factory adjacent to the airport.[3]

Alternate names

History

Nagoya Airport served as the main airport for Nagoya until the opening of Chubu Centrair International Airport on February 17, 2005. This airport IATA Airport Code used to be NGO (now overtaken by the new Centrair airport), and its ICAO Airport Code used to be RJNN when it was classified as a second class airport; the new designations are NKM for regional flights and RJNA designation for general aviation flights. Aichi Prefecture manages the facilities and regularly handles international business flights.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, Nagoya Airport was a busy international airport because of overflow from Japan's other international airports, New Tokyo International Airport (now Narita International Airport) near Tokyo and Osaka International Airport (Itami Airport) near Osaka.

Since the opening of Kansai International Airport in 1994, the airport's main traffic source has been the nearby automotive and manufacturing industries, causing carriers such as United Airlines (United currently serves Centrair Airport with flights to Guam) and Delta Air Lines (Portland (OR)) to stop flying to Nagoya (Delta currently serves Centrair Airport with flights to Detroit, Guam, Manila, Saipan, and Honolulu). Some discount holiday flights still operated from Nagoya, drawing passengers from the Kansai region. On the other hand, the cargo handling capacity of Nagoya Airport was not enough to satisfy the demands from the regional economy and air cargo shifted to Narita and Kansai. In addition, the airport was hampered by its location in a residential area of Aichi Prefecture, limiting the number of flights that can use the airport, as well as the hours in which they can fly.

Because of these reasons, a new airport, Chubu Centrair International Airport, was built on an island south of Nagoya. On February 17, 2005, nearly all of Nagoya Airport's commercial transport flights moved to Centrair. On the same day, the old airport became a general aviation and airbase facility,[4] as well as was renamed to the current names and accepting J-AIR's headquarters and hub relocation from Hiroshima-Nishi Airport. A dedicated business aviation terminal and commuter flights within Japan then became the key features of Nagoya's secondary airport.

Military use

Nagoya Airport was first opened in 1944 as a military airport named Kamake Airfield. It was primarily used as the home base of the 55th Sentai of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service. As such, it was attacked on several occasions in 1944 and 1945 by USAAF B-29 Superfortress bombing raids. After the end of World War II, the airfield was taken over by the American occupation forces and renamed Nagoya Air Base.

Reconstruction of the heavily-damaged airfield began and in May 1946, Nagoya became the Headquarters of the Fifth Air Force, which controlled Air Force occupation units throughout Japan. In December 1950 during the Korean War, Fifth Air Force headquarters was moved to South Korea; however, it returned to Nagoya Air Base in September 1954 and remained until July 1957 when it moved to Fuchu Air Station in Tokyo as part of the USAF return of Nagoya Airport to Japanese control.

The Americans primarily used Nagoya Air Base as a headquarters station for the next ten years, stationing several command and control units at the base:

Moved to Nagoya in March from Kimpo Air Base, South Korea where it had been performing occupation duty since moving there from Okinawa in September 1945
Moved from the Philippines to set up an air defense organization in Japan.
Activated at Nagoya. During the Korean War it assumed the missions of airfield construction and defense of Japan as well as providing logistical support for the Fifth Air Force.

Operational use from the airfield began in February 1947 when the 347th Fighter Group (All Weather) began operating P-61 Black Widow interceptor aircraft, which were used to provide air defense for Japan. It operated from the airfield until June 1950 when the Black Widows were retired and the unit was inactivated.

After the Armistice in South Korea which ended combat, the 49th Fighter Group moved to Nagoya Air Base with F-84 Thunderjets. The unit provided air defense until June 1957 when it moved to Misawa Air Base.

The 6110th Air Base Group, which had maintained the base and the myriad of ground support units at the base since the Americans moved in during 1946 began phasing down after July 1957. The 6110th USAF Hospital remained open until 30 June 1958 when the last Americans left Nagoya Airfield and it was returned to Japanese control.

Incidents and accidents

Airlines and destinations

Domestic

AirlinesDestinations
Fuji Dream Airlines Aomori, Fukuoka, Hanamaki, Izumo,[7] Kitakyushu,[7] Kochi, Kumamoto, Niigata, Yamagata

See also

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

Media related to Nagoya Airport at Wikimedia Commons

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