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Fukuoka Airport (福岡空港, Fukuoka Kūkō^?) (IATA: FUK, ICAO: RJFF), formerly known as Itazuke Air Base, is an international and domestic airport in Fukuoka, Japan. It is officially designated a second class airport. It is currently operating at full capacity, and cannot be further expanded. Flights stop at 10 p.m. to allow local residents some peace and quiet, starting again at 7 a.m..

The airport is conveniently located for Fukuoka residents in Hakata-ku, South-East of the city centre. It is connected to the rest of the city by subway and road, and a subway from the airport to the business district takes less than ten minutes. Yet its very convenience raises questions and concerns about its safety.

Fukuoka Airport is the third largest passenger airport in Japan. In 2005, 18 million people used the airport, while there were 137,000 takeoffs and landings.[1]

In the mid-1990s, Delta Air Lines operated a non-stop flight between Fukuoka and Portland, Oregon, where the airline once operated its trans-pacific hub. When the route was dropped due to financial pressure, Fukuoka lost its first and only non-stop service to the mainland U.S.

From 1952 to 1972, Fukuoka Airport was the site of a United States Air Force base named Itazuke.[2]

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Airport diagram

• There is only one runway of 2800 metres, which was originally constructed for propeller aircraft. The airport is surrounded by residential areas and the approach is reminiscent of the old Hong Kong airport, Kai Tak International.

• Fukuoka airport was the site of an aircraft accident on June 13, 1996 when a Garuda Indonesia Airways DC-10, Flight 865, crashed on take-off, killing three passengers and severely injuring 18 more. The pilot appeared to hesitate about applying full throttle upon a single engine failure. The crash occurred within the airport perimeter when the aircraft was already airborne, nine feet off the ground. [3]

• On August 12, 2005, metal fragments fell in a Fukuoka residential area from a JALways airplane bound for Honolulu after an engine briefly caught fire shortly after take-off. Two people on the ground were injured by falling debris.

With Fukuoka's ambitions to become a hub for business and travel in East Asia - let alone the former Mayor Mr. Hirotaro Yamasaki's stated ambition to bring the Olympic Games to Fukuoka and Kyushu in 2016 - Fukuoka City has been considering moving the airport further inland or to an offshore artificial island to accommodate increased traffic.

However, the idea of a new airport in the sea off Shingu has been opposed by environmentalists. The Gan-no-su coastal area has also been mooted, and it was the site of an airfield in the 1940s, but similar environmental concerns exist there.^{[citation needed]}

There is some debate as to whether a new airport is really needed, given the cost, the environmental problems and the nearby New Kitakyushu Airport (opened on March 16, 2006) which has 21-hour operation. Saga Airport is also under-utilized. A combination of the three airports appropriately used may provide a solution for the time being.

• All Nippon Airways (Nagoya-Centrair, Okinawa, Osaka-Itami, Osaka-Kansai, Sapporo-Chitose, Tokyo-Haneda, Tokyo-Narita)
  • Air Nippon (Fukue, Fukushima, Ishigaki, Komatsu, Niigata, Sendai, Toyama, Tsushima)
• Amakusa Airlines (Amakusa)
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• Air China (Beijing, Chengdu, Dalian, Shanghai-Pudong)
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• Fukuoka Airport Map
• About Fukuoka Airport
• Fukuoka Airport Building Co.,Ltd
• Airport information for RJFF at World Aero Data