Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Hakodate Airport is a large civil aerodrome on the southern coast of Hokkaido, Japan, serving the historic port city of Hakodate with a single long instrument runway. Operated by Hokkaido Airports on behalf of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, it handles a substantial mix of domestic and international jet traffic, making it a busy and well-equipped destination for a simulator pilot exploring northern Japan.
Hakodate Airport serves Hakodate, a major city and former treaty port on the southern tip of Hokkaido. It is owned by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and operated by Hokkaido Airports. The field is of particular interest to enthusiasts of Cold War aviation history and offers a long, ILS-equipped runway typical of a regional Japanese jet airport, set against the scenic backdrop of the Hakodate peninsula.
The airport lies close to Hakodate Station, roughly 7.6 kilometres to the east of it, on the southern coast of Hokkaido. As a large airport handling scheduled domestic and international jet services, it sits within controlled airspace served by Shirakami Approach.
Hakodate has a single physical runway, 12/30, aligned northwest-southeast. It is 9,808 feet long with a hard surface and is lit for night operations. An ILS is provided for runway 12, supporting instrument approaches to that direction.
Pilots can expect ATIS on 126.6 MHz for arrival and departure information. Shirakami Approach provides radar service on 120.85 MHz, while the tower operates on 118.35 MHz. Runway 12 is served by an ILS for instrument approaches.
Hakodate Airport opened in 1961 with a single 1,200-metre runway. The runway was progressively extended as traffic grew: to 2,000 metres in 1971 alongside a terminal upgrade, to 2,500 metres in 1978, and to its current 3,000-metre length in 1999. A new terminal building opened in 2005. The airport is notable in Cold War history as the site where Soviet pilot Viktor Belenko defected to the West on 6 September 1976, landing a MiG-25 Foxbat there. On 21 June 1995, All Nippon Airways Flight 857, a Boeing 747 en route from Tokyo, was hijacked and landed at Hakodate, where it remained overnight before riot police freed the passengers at dawn.
Hakodate today is a busy regional airport handling scheduled domestic services to destinations including Tokyo-Haneda, Osaka-Itami, Nagoya-Centrair, Sapporo and Okushiri, as well as international routes to Taipei and Seoul operated by carriers such as Starlux Airlines, Tigerair Taiwan and Jeju Air. The airport is equipped with a modern passenger terminal opened in 2005.