Kōchi Airport (Japanese: 高知空港, Kōchi Kūkō) (IATA: KCZ, ICAO: RJOK), also known as Kōchi Ryōma Airport (Japanese: 高知龍馬空港, Kōchi Ryōma Kūkō), is a regional airport in Nankoku, a city in Kōchi Prefecture of Japan. It is located on the southeastern coast, 7 NM (13 km; 8.1 mi) east[2] of the city of Kōchi.

Kōchi Airport

高知空港

Kōchi Kūkō
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerGovernment of Japan
OperatorKōchi Airport
LocationNankoku, Kōchi, Japan
Elevation AMSL29 ft / 9 m
Coordinates33°32′46″N 133°40′10″E / 33.54611°N 133.66944°E / 33.54611; 133.66944
Websitewww.kochiap.co.jp
Map
KCZ/RJOK is located in Kochi Prefecture
KCZ/RJOK
KCZ/RJOK
Location in Kōchi Prefecture
KCZ/RJOK is located in Japan
KCZ/RJOK
KCZ/RJOK
Location in Japan
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
14/32 2,500 8,202 Asphalt concrete
Statistics (2015)
Passengers1,350,930
Cargo (metric tonnes)3,678
Aircraft movement18,176

The 120 ha (297 acres) airport has a single runway handling small to medium size aircraft. The 10,900 m2 (117,327 sq ft) two storey terminal building is located to the north side of the runway. The arrivals level is on the first floor and departures on the second. There are 14 retail stores in the small terminal building. There is an observation deck on the third floor of the building. Transportation from the airport is by car, taxi or bus.

History

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Kōchi Airport was originally built in 1944 as Kōchi Airfield for the Imperial Japanese Navy and from 1945 to 1952 the airport was under command of US forces. The airfield became a civilian airport in 1952 and first flights started operating in 1954.

The runway was expanded in 1960 and 1980 and later to 2,500 metres (8,202 ft) to handle larger aircraft.

In November 2003 it became the first airport in Japan to be nicknamed after a person: Bakumatsu period leader Sakamoto Ryōma.[3]

Facts

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  • 6,850 long tons (6,960 t) of cargo annually (2000)
  • 13,500 landings annually (2000)
  • 3 gates handling 37 aircraft

Statistics

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  • 2,400,000 passengers annually (1,932,000 in 2000)


Annual passenger traffic at KCZ airport. See Wikidata query.

Airlines and destinations

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AirlinesDestinations
All Nippon Airways Tokyo–Haneda
ANA Wings Osaka–Itami
Fuji Dream Airlines Nagoya–Centrair,[4] Nagoya–Komaki
J-Air Fukuoka
Japan Airlines Tokyo–Haneda
Jetstar Japan Osaka–Kansai, Tokyo–Narita[5]
Tigerair Taiwan Taipei–Taoyuan

Incidents and accidents

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All Nippon Airways Flight 1603 plane makes a belly landing at Kōchi Airport on 13 March 2007 after the front landing gear fails to deploy.

On 13 March 2007, All Nippon Airways Flight 1603, a Bombardier Dash 8, on a flight from Osaka to Kōchi, landed safely at the Kōchi Airport after the front wheel of the plane failed to deploy. As a result, ANA's fleet of thirteen Bombardier DHC-8 aircraft were grounded for emergency inspections.[6]

References

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  1. ^ "Kochi Airport" (PDF). Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  2. ^ AIS Japan Archived 2016-05-17 at the Portuguese Web Archive
  3. ^ "Japan's Kochi airport named after samurai with six-shooter", ThingsAsian.com, 2003-11-16.
  4. ^ "Fuji Dream Airlines adds Nagoya Chubu Service in late-1Q23". AeroRoutes. 18 January 2023. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  5. ^ "Jetstar Japan adds Kochi service from late-Dec 2018". routesonline. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  6. ^ Japanese airline grounds Bombardier fleet after plane makes emergency landing Archived 2012-02-08 at the Wayback Machine - All News Radio online - Obtained March 14, 2007.
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  Media related to Kochi Ryoma Airport at Wikimedia Commons