New Chitose Airport is remodeling right into a vacation spot for vacationers and native guests alike after passenger numbers reached a document 26 million in 2025, with new direct flights to North America, upgraded safety services and a significant anime-themed industrial space deliberate for summer season 2027.
Hokkaido Airports President Masao Yamazaki mentioned the operator needs to make New Chitose extra engaging and encourage people who find themselves not flying to go to the airport for leisure and procuring.
The airport’s worldwide community can also be increasing. From December 2026, United Airlines will function direct flights to San Francisco, whereas Air Canada will start direct companies to Vancouver.
They would be the first nonstop routes linking New Chitose Airport with North America. Both are scheduled to function three spherical journeys every week via March 2027.
Until now, passengers touring from Hokkaido to North America usually wanted to attach via Tokyo, with journeys taking at the least 13 hours and generally requiring an in a single day keep earlier than departure.
The new nonstop companies are anticipated to scale back journey time to about 9 hours.
Yamazaki mentioned the selection of San Francisco and Vancouver is intently linked to rising enterprise exercise surrounding Rapidus, the next-generation semiconductor producer increasing mass-production preparations in Chitose.
The San Francisco Bay Area consists of Silicon Valley, residence to a big focus of expertise firms, creating expectations for elevated enterprise journey between Hokkaido and the area.
Travel businesses are additionally reporting elevated inquiries about journeys to North America.
HIS has already produced journey brochures providing packages together with aurora viewing, ski resorts and sporting occasions, with five-day, three-night journeys beginning at 250,000 yen.
Facilities inside New Chitose Airport are additionally being upgraded.
Smart safety lanes have been launched at passenger screening areas in April. Using CT scanning expertise, the system permits passengers to depart objects resembling bottled drinks and laptop computer computer systems inside their baggage throughout screening.
The new system has doubled passenger-processing capability in contrast with the earlier screening methodology.
A shared workplace area additionally opened on the airport in August.
The airport operator is in the meantime experimenting with leisure designed to make the terminal itself a vacation spot.
An occasion operating via August 30 reworked a part of the airport right into a collaboration with the Nintendo sport Animal Crossing, providing photograph spots and limited-edition merchandise.
One customer mentioned the occasion felt like stepping inside the sport.
A bigger redevelopment will start in September within the passage connecting the home and worldwide terminal areas on the third ground.
The Hello Kitty Happy Flight attraction, an interactive theme park the place guests may take pictures with characters and revel in different experiences, closed on August 23 after 10 years of operation to make method for the redevelopment.
Hokkaido Airports mentioned quite a few clients left messages expressing remorse over the closure.
The area will likely be changed with what the operator describes as certainly one of Hokkaido’s largest anime-themed services, together with specialty merchandise shops and different companies.
Around 20 shops are anticipated to open within the space, with completion scheduled for summer season 2027.
New Chitose can also be making ready occasions that may as soon as have been thought-about uncommon for an airport terminal.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling is scheduled to carry an occasion on the airport’s Center Plaza in September, a part of efforts to broaden the vary of leisure accessible to guests.
Younger Hokkaido Airports staff are additionally growing their very own initiatives to advertise lesser-known sights contained in the airport.
Employees from completely different departments function the corporate’s official YouTube channel, Happu Channel, producing movies largely by themselves utilizing smartphones and motion cameras.
One forthcoming video options seven ice lotions accessible completely at New Chitose Airport.
Among the merchandise highlighted is the favored Inca no Mezame Butter Soft W, made with beneficiant quantities of potato.
Hokkaido Airports worker Kaede Sasaki mentioned, “If you eat it with potato chips, the sweet and salty flavors work really well together. It is available only at the airport, so I hope people will try it.”
The video introducing New Chitose Airport’s unique merchandise is scheduled to be launched in early September.
Another worker concerned within the channel mentioned producing the movies helps employees uncover sights they might in any other case have missed, whereas the workforce mentioned they’re studying about manufacturing as they work collectively.
The initiatives type a part of New Chitose Airport’s broader effort to evolve from a transportation hub into a spot the place guests can store, eat and revel in leisure even once they haven’t any flight to catch.
Source: 北海道ニュースUHB