Iwami Airport

Iwami Airport

石見空港

*Iwami Kūkō*
Iwami Airport; 石見空港; Iwami Kūkō
	IATA: IWJ; ICAO: RJOW;
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Government
Location	Masuda, Shimane, Japan
Elevation AMSL	177 ft / 54 m
Coordinates	34°40′35″N 131°47′25″E / 34.67639°N 131.79028°E
Map
	RJOW Location in Japan RJOW RJOW (Japan)
Runways
Statistics (2015)
Passengers
Passengers	129,632
Cargo (metric tonnes)	0
Aircraft movement	1,830
	Source: Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism

Iwami Airport (石見空港, Iwami Kūkō) (IATA: IWJ, ICAO: RJOW) is an airport located 2.8 NM (5.2 km; 3.2 mi) Masuda, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. It is also known as Hagi-Iwami Airport^[2] due to its proximity to the city of Hagi in Yamaguchi Prefecture. It is a 2 or 3 hour drive from the old town of Iwami, its primary namesake.

Operation

There are two daily round trip flights from Tokyo. During late summer another daily round trip flight from Osaka is available for about a month.

In late Summer the annual Inaka Ride[1] cycling event course includes riding on the runway.

In late Autumn the annual Hagi-Iwami Airport Marathon[2] starts near the airport gateway and the starting course includes running on the runway.

For both events the daily scheduled flights are not interrupted.

History

Iwami Airport opened in July 1993 with service to Tokyo Haneda and Osaka Itami. These services experienced weak passenger demand in the airport's first years of operation, despite local subsidies and reduced landing fees intended to make them more competitive. The Iwami-Haneda route boarded a record number of passengers in 2013 after Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni opened for passenger flights, as this made it possible to create tour packages to Izumo-taisha, Itsukushima Shrine and other regional attractions using both airports as gateways.^[3] Iwami's IATA airport code of IWJ was originally used by Iwakuni when it hosted international flights between 1952 and 1964.^[4]

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
All Nippon Airways	Tokyo–Haneda Seasonal: Osaka–Itami

References

^ "Iwami Airport" (PDF). Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
^ Shimane Prefecture: Airports Archived 15 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine (in English)
^ "萩・石見空港、羽田便が年間７万人突破　13年度". Nihon Keizai Shimbun. 10 March 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
^ "12月開港の岩国空港略称、「ＩＷＫ」に決まる". Nihon Keizai Shimbun. 28 July 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2014. 国交省大阪航空局などによると、1952～64年の間、岩国は国際空港として民間機が発着しており、このときの略称はＩＷＪだったという。これは現在、石見空港（島根県益田市）の略称として使われている。