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TOKYO : Japan's newest airport opened outside Tokyo Thursday aiming to lure budget airlines, but there was deep scepticism about its profitability as it has only one scheduled daily flight so far.
Ibaraki Airport, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) northeast of Tokyo, began operations as the country's 98th airport and is meant to boost the local economy as a gateway for business passengers and foreign tourists.
But the new terminal is already expecting an annual loss of 20 million yen (221,000 dollars), with one daily Asiana Airlines flight to Seoul.
Another regular flight by Skymark Airlines to the western Japanese city of Kobe is only expected to start from April.
Ibaraki Governor Masaru Hashimoto said his prefecture would continue to approach low cost carriers (LCCs) to use the airport as an alternative destination for the greater Tokyo area.
"LCC is a segment that is expected to grow, and Ibaraki Airport will be the only airport to seriously work with them," Hashimoto said at the opening ceremony. "We will make sure that this will grow as a major airport."
However, the 22-billion-yen facility, part of which will be used by the Air Self-Defence Force, opened at an turbulent time for the aviation sector.
Many people questioned the business rationale for the airport, which is more remote than the huge and convenient Haneda airport inside the capital and Narita airport, Japan's main gateway for international flights.
Japan's top carriers, Japan Airlines (JAL), which is going through a bankruptcy rehabilitation, and All Nippon Airways (ANA), have refused to serve the airport amid efforts to cut loss-making routes.
JAL failed in part because it was forced by the government to fly unprofitable routes to remote airports.
Japan under decades of conservative rule has built many highways, bridges, airports and other infrastructure primarily to stimulate local economies through construction projects, leaving much of the country littered with "white elephant" projects.
The transport ministry this week reported that only eight airports in Japan attracted more travellers than their estimates had been for fiscal 2008, with some local airports drawing less than 20 percent of their projected users.
Ibaraki is no exception. In the late 1990s, national and local officials drew up a plan for Ibaraki Airport to attract 810,000 users annually with regular domestic flights to four regional cities.
But now only 200,000 users are expected annually after many carriers have shunned Ibaraki.
Transport Minister Seiji Maehara, who took office in September, said this week that he expected Ibaraki officials to operate the airport on their own with little help from the national government.
- AFP/vm
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