Matsuyama Airport

Matsuyama Airport (松山空港) is an airport located 3 NM west-southwest of the center of Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, Japan. The airport was built on the coastline facing the Seto Inland Sea. In 2018, the airport had approximately 3.2 million passengers, the busiest in the Chugoku-Shikoku region, surpassing Hiroshima Airport.

History
The airport opened as an Imperial Japanese Navy airfield in 1941. At the end of the war it served as the base for the 353th Fighter Squadron which defended against B-29s' raid. The airport then became under the administration of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force and became a country-administered civil airport in 1952. During the Korean War, the airport was used by the US and British Military. It was the first airport in Shikoku to see jet service following a runway extension project in 1972.

An office park named "Biz Port" opened near the airport in 2003 to attract technology businesses, but was scheduled to close on 1 April 2015.

In 2013, the government of Ehime Prefecture and local business organizations announced that they would begin subsidizing the airport's international routes to Shanghai and Seoul, which had seen load factors of less than 50% in June 2013.

All international service at the airport was suspended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. International service resumed in December 2022 with a VietJet charter flight bringing tourists from Ho Chi Minh City.

Charter flights between Matsuyama Airport and Taipei Songshan Airport were expected to be resumed in February 2023.

Accidents and incidents

 * On 13 November 1966, All Nippon Airways Flight 533 crashed in the sea just a few miles away from the airport, killing all 50 people on board. The cause was never determined. Because of this event, airport authorities across the country started planning runway extension projects and installation of aeronautical navigation systems including an ILS at every Japanese airport.
 * On 26 October 2013, a small propeller aircraft inbound from Kikai Airport crash-landed on the runway at around 6:30 p.m., forcing a temporary closure of the airport.