Oita Airport

Oita Airport (大分空港) is an international airport in Kunisaki City, Ōita Prefecture Japan, 16 NM northeast of Ōita City.

Oita Airport is an offshore airport built on reclaimed coastal waters off the Kunisaki Peninsula. It opened as New Oita Airport in 1971 as a replacement for the old Oita Airport within Oita City. In 2018, the airport had 2.1 million passengers.

The airport is accessible by bus but not by train. Hovercraft service to Oita City was available until it was suspended in 2009, the last hovercraft service to operate in Japan. However, in 2020, Oita Prefecture announced it would reintroduce hovercraft service to Oita city with three new hovercraft. These new hovercraft are scheduled to being service in fall of 2024.

In 2021, Virgin Orbit announced plans to use Oita Airport for its launch site. However, the company went bankrupt in 2023. Oita Prefecture plans to continue developing Oita Airport as Japan's first spaceport.

Accidents and incidents

 * At the old Oita Airport on February 22, 1964, Fuji Airlines Flight 902 [jp] traveling from Kagoshima Airport overran the runway upon landing at Oita Airport. The Convair CV-240 then fell into the dried-up Urakawa River, killing 20 of the 42 on board. There is a memorial for the victims at the site of the old runway.
 * At 14:10 on 28 January 2024, a HondaJet light business aircraft on a training flight from Oita Airport overshot the runway while landing and came to a stop on nearby grass, forcing the airport's closure for at least an hour and the cancellation of four flights. None of the three people aboard the plane were injured.