Ibaraki Airport is an airport in the city of Omitama, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. It also serves as air base for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force under the name Hyakuri Air Base. The airport was known as Hyakuri Airfield (百里飛行場, Hyakuri Hikōjō) prior to March 2010, when civil aviation operations began. The airport is located about 53 mi (85 km) north of Tokyo, and is intended to serve as a low-cost alternative to Tokyo's larger Narita and Haneda airports. Built as a result of large public investment, the airport has been criticized as being a symbol of wasteful government spending and as being unnecessary, opening with only one flight per day. As of September 2014, a total of eight routes are operated from the airport, all by low-cost carriers.

History

The airfield was first developed by the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1937, with much of the land claimed from local farmers under the orders of Emperor Hirohito. After the end of World War II, the locals reclaimed the land and resumed farming. The base was reopened in 1956 by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, which took control of the land once again. Many farmers who live around the base have refused to sell their lands to the government to enable expansion of the airfield.