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Draft Construction Plan for New Runway at Fukuoka Airport - 2,500 Meters Long, Will Handle 183,000 Flights Annually

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Draft Construction Plan for New Runway at Fukuoka Airport.

On July 26, the Fukuoka Airport Design and Facility Planning Investigative Committee organized by the Japanese national government, Fukuoka Prefecture and Fukuoka City announced a draft Public Involvement (PI) Report on airport facility and infrastructure plans that include increasing the number of runways at Fukuoka Airport, which is in Hakata Ward, Fukuoka City.

While the airport has been using one runway it has handled the third most domestic flights per year following Haneda and Narita and the fourth most passengers following Haneda, Narita and New Chitose. A decision has already been made to build a new runway in order to relieve congestion as the airport nears the limit of its ability to handle traffic and in order to meet demand for new routes.

According to the content of the draft report, details of the plans for placing and maintaining facilities present a proposal to construct a 2,500-meter runway on the west side of the existing one as well as a new taxiway. Facilities including those for the Japan Coast Guard, municipal fire department, cargo, the Air Self-Defense Force and the U.S military will be moved and the airport’s area will be expanded. The project cost is estimated at JPY 180 billion. By building the new runway, the airport is expected to raise the number of flights it handles per year from the current 149,000 to 183,000.

The draft report will again be released as an official PI Report in late August, after which an environmental assessment will be performed, followed by the design and construction phases. No date has yet been set for the opening of the new runway.

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