Chubu International Airport, sometimes refered to as Central Japan International Airport, (or Centrair for short), is Japan’s third largest international gateway after Narita International Airport just outside Tokyo and Kansai International Airport outside Osaka. It officially opened in 2005.
Like Kansai, Chubu is built on an artificial island. The airport is located is 35km south of Nagoya, adjacent to the coastal factory town of Tokoname. Nagoya previously had an international airport in Komaki, but it was located too close to the center of the city and therefore suffered from draconian noise abatement laws similar to those that dogged Osaka Itami Airport. Even though it’s traffic had been steadily increasing, surpassed 10 million passengers and 150,000 tons of cargo in 1999, it suffered in being short of space. The runway at Nagoya Airport, at a paltry 2,740 meters, was not large enough to accommodate the largest widebody aircraft that would have made it viable as a transpacific gateway.
Unlike Kansai, Chubu’s island was created in shallow waters, only four to five meters in depth. It is also much closer to the shoreline, with the main runway angled so that the noise carpet is completely over water. The entire island is 4.34 km long and 1.97 km wide, and can be widened in the future to accommodate a second parallel runway. In contrast to Kansai’s rectangular shape, Chubu is rounded to keep it from interfering with ocean currents.
Construction cost 768 billion yen, a quarter of the initial estimates thanks to a simplified design. Toyota (which is based near the airport) and Chubu Electric are the largest investors in the project.
Some controversy has arisen over how the new airport will be operated. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has given vocal support for privatizing all three international airports, and using profits from Narita to help boost Kansai and Chubu’s budgets: many, however, worry that this will make Narita’s landing fees higher and drive many international flights out of Japan entirely. Since the three airports are relying on growing connecting traffic between the US, Europe, and Southeast Asia for much of their future growth, this could turn into a thorny problem indeed.
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