Departure
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MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Niigata Airport (RJSN/KIJ) is an international gateway serving the city of Niigata on Japan's Sea of Japan coast, roughly 7 km northeast of Niigata Station. It handles a mix of domestic services to cities such as Sapporo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka alongside international links to Seoul and Taipei, and is a hub for Toki Air. For the simulator pilot it offers a long ILS-equipped main runway paired with a shorter crosswind strip, set within a relatively compact regional airport environment.
Niigata Airport is an international airport located about 6.7 km northeast of Niigata Station, serving Niigata, the largest city on Japan's Sea of Japan coast in Niigata Prefecture. It is operated under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and functions as a hub for Toki Air, with a route network covering major domestic points such as Sapporo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka as well as international services to Seoul-Incheon and Taipei-Taoyuan. The field is of interest to the simulator pilot as a moderately busy regional Japanese airport with a full-length ILS runway and a shorter secondary strip, set against the backdrop of the Niigata coastline.
Niigata Airport lies close to Niigata City, roughly 7 km northeast of the city centre and about 6 km from the Niigata Airport interchange of the Nihonkai Tohoku Expressway. The airport sits on the Sea of Japan coast in Niigata Prefecture.
Niigata has two physical runways. The main runway, 10/28, is 8,166 ft long with a hard surface and runway lighting; the 28 end is equipped with an ILS. The secondary runway, 04/22, is a hard-surfaced, lit strip with the 04 end measuring 4,506 ft and the 22 end 4,320 ft. Field elevation is 16 ft.
Approach can be contacted on 121.4 MHz, with ATIS broadcast on 128.45 MHz. Departure is worked on 119.05 MHz, and Tower operates on 118 MHz. The 28 end of the main runway is served by an ILS approach.
The airport lies close to Niigata Station and central Niigata City, which sit to the southwest, and is near the Niigata Airport interchange of the Nihonkai Tohoku Expressway, both useful references for a pilot orientating visually toward the field along the coast.
The first airport serving this stretch of the Sea of Japan coast opened on an island in the Shinano River in 1929. It was relocated the following year to the then-village of Matsugazakahama and renamed Niigata Airport. The airport was requisitioned by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force in 1941 and subsequently came under United States Army Air Forces control after the Second World War, before being returned to Japanese civilian control on 31 March 1958, when commercial flight operations resumed. International services began in 1973 with scheduled flights to Khabarovsk, and Niigata became a historically important gateway for traffic to and from Russia, including the export of local agricultural produce, though Russian services were reduced from the winter of 2010 as slots shifted toward Narita. In the spring of 2012 the airport saw significant expansion when China Eastern Airlines, Fuji Dream Airlines and All Nippon Airways announced new services to Shanghai, Nagoya and Narita respectively.
Niigata Airport today handles a range of domestic and international scheduled services. Domestic destinations include Sapporo (Chitose and Okadama), Nagoya (Centrair and Komaki), Osaka (Itami and Kansai), Kobe and Fukuoka, operated by carriers including All Nippon Airways, ANA Wings, Fuji Dream Airlines, Ibex Airlines, J-Air, Peach and Toki Air, for which the airport serves as a hub. International links connect Niigata with Seoul-Incheon via Korean Air and Taipei-Taoyuan via Tigerair Taiwan. There is no direct rail access to the airport, though a subsidised limousine bus service runs to and from Niigata Station roughly every 20 minutes.