New Chitose Airport

New Chitose opened in July 1988 to replace the adjacent Chitose Airport, a joint-use facility which had served passenger flights since 1963.[6] The airport's IATA airport code was originally SPK. This code was later adopted as a city code to refer to both New Chitose and the smaller Okadama Airport in central Sapporo, which handles commuter flights within Hokkaido.

New Chitose became Japan's first 24-hour airport in 1994. Services between 10 PM and 7 AM are currently limited to six flights per day due to noise alleviation concerns. Four of these slots are currently used by passenger flights to Tokyo while the other two are used by cargo flights.

New Chitose previously had long-haul service to Amsterdam (KLM, 1997–2002), Cairns (Qantas, 1992–1998 and 2004–2007) and Honolulu (JALWays, 1992–2003, Hawaiian Airlines since 2012). Service to Europe resumed when Finnair launched a new weekly flight to Helsinki from 15 December 2019. Finnair was the unique company to provide direct and scheduled flights between Sapporo and Europe.[7] International services are mainly for transporting tourists from the rest of Asia and for sightseeing and skiing. The area surrounding gates 0 through 2, on the north end of the main terminal, was a sterile area for international flights until the international terminal opened for service on March 26, 2010.

The airport was upgraded with additional private aircraft handling facilities for the 34th G8 summit, held in Hokkaido in 2008.

Due to the airport's sharing of air traffic control with Chitose Air Base, daytime civil operations are limited to 32 takeoffs and landings per hour, and operations by certain foreign aircraft (including Chinese and Russian aircraft) are prohibited on Mondays and Thursdays. These restrictions were scheduled to be eased in March 2017.[8] A second terminal is being built roughly doubling the existing terminal and capacity, scheduled to be complete by August 2019.[9]

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  Airport diagram before the opening of the International Terminal. Civil flights use the parallel runways to the southeast; JASDF flights use the parallel runways to the northwest.
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  Terminal building
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  Domestic terminal atrium
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  International terminal
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  International departures area
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  A map of Hokkaido consisting of Sapporo Ramen bowls inside of the terminal.
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  F-15J at Chitose Air Base (2010)

Aerial view of New Chitose Airport

The airport has a semicircular domestic terminal (reminiscent of the semicircular terminals at DFW Airport) with eighteen gates, and a smaller international terminal with six gates. Operating hours for international flights at CTS are restricted by the Japanese government in order to avoid interference with JASDF operations at the adjacent air base. As of April 2012, international flights are permitted on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from noon to 4 pm, and from 5 pm on Friday through 11:59 pm on Sunday.[10]

Passenger

Sapporo Chitose airport passenger destinations, as of September 2017

Airlines	Destinations
AirAsia X	Kuala Lumpur–International (resumes 3 December 2023)
Air Busan	Busan, Seoul–Incheon[11]
Air China	Beijing–Capital
Air Do	Fukuoka,[12] Kobe, Nagoya–Centrair, Sendai, Tokyo–Haneda
Air Seoul	Seoul–Incheon
All Nippon Airways	Fukuoka, Kobe, Komatsu, Osaka–Itami, Osaka–Kansai, Tokyo–Haneda, Tokyo–Narita[13] Seasonal: Naha
ANA Wings	Akita, Aomori, Fukuoka, Fukushima, Hakodate, Hiroshima, Kushiro, Memanbetsu, Nagoya–Centrair, Nakashibetsu, Niigata, Osaka–Itami, Osaka–Kansai, Sendai, Toyama, Wakkanai Seasonal: Kobe, Okayama, Rishiri, Shizuoka[14]
Asiana Airlines	Seoul–Incheon[15]
Batik Air Malaysia	Seasonal: Kuala Lumpur–International, Taipei–Taoyuan
Cathay Pacific	Hong Kong[16]
China Airlines	Taipei–Taoyuan
China Eastern Airlines	Shanghai–Pudong[17]
EVA Air	Taipei–Taoyuan
Fuji Dream Airlines	Matsumoto, Shizuoka, Yamagata
Hawaiian Airlines	Honolulu (resumes 3 April 2024)[18]
Hong Kong Airlines	Hong Kong
Ibex Airlines	Sendai
J-Air	Akita (ends 28 October 2023),[19] Aomori, Hanamaki, Kagoshima, Memanbetsu, Niigata, Osaka–Itami, Sendai Seasonal: Izumo, Kitakyushu
Japan Airlines	Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Nagoya–Centrair, Osaka–Itami, Osaka–Kansai, Tokyo–Haneda
Jeju Air	Seoul–Incheon
Jetstar Japan	Nagoya–Centrair, Osaka–Kansai, Tokyo–Narita
Jin Air	Busan,[20] Seoul–Incheon
Korean Air	Seoul–Incheon[21]
Malaysia Airlines	Kuala Lumpur–International (begins 5 December 2023)[22]
Peach	Fukuoka,[23] Nagoya–Centrair,[24] Naha,[25] Osaka–Kansai, Sendai,[26] Tokyo–Narita
Scoot	Seasonal: Singapore, Taipei–Taoyuan[27]
Skymark Airlines	Fukuoka, Ibaraki, Kobe, Nagoya–Centrair, Tokyo–Haneda
Spring Airlines	Shanghai–Pudong
Spring Airlines Japan	Tokyo–Narita
Starlux Airlines	Taipei–Taoyuan[28]
Thai Airways International	Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi[29]
Tianjin Airlines	Tianjin (resumes 19 November 2023)[30]
Tigerair Taiwan	Taipei–Taoyuan[31]
T'way Air	Daegu, Seoul–Incheon[32]

The domestic terminal contains a 188-room hotel, the Air Terminal Hotel[34]

China Airlines operates its Sapporo office on the third floor of the airport building.[35]

The airline Hokkaido Air System was at one time headquartered in the New Chitose airport terminal.[36] Now its head office is on the property of Okadama Airport in Higashi-ku, Sapporo.[37]

• On August 5, 2011, Philippine Airlines flight 102, a Boeing 747 was several hours into its Manila to Los Angeles flight, when it made an emergency landing at Sapporo-Chitose after there were reports of smoke in the cabin. The flight landed safely and none of the 449 passengers and crew were injured.[39][40]
• On February 23, 2016, Japan Airlines Flight 3512, a Boeing 737 about to depart Chitose for Fukuoka Airport, was evacuated in the midst of a snowstorm due to smoke in the cabin caused by an engine problem. Three passengers were injured in the evacuation.[41]

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• Official website