Ibaraki Airport: Nearly gets you to Tokyo

The New York Times looks at the brand new Ibaraki Airport -- a small regional airport meant for budget travel to and from Tokyo -- which opened today, March 11.

The airport will only offer two routes at the moment: Tokyo to Seoul on Asiana Airlines and Tokyo to Kobe on Skymark. But, given that the airport is 85 kilometers north of Tokyo in Ibaraki, even further than the epically distant Narita Airport located 57.5 kilometers away in Chiba, this isn't so much getting to Tokyo as the next best thing. It appears the Ibaraki Prefecture spends most of its time pretending to be an easy spot for Tokyo entry. A bit like the "Tokyo to Sapporo" ferry (which actually goes from Oarai, Ibaraki to Tomakomai, Hokkaido). 

Although an airport in Ibaraki sounds like a good way to throw away ¥22 billion, the New York Times quotes a few experts who believe that the terminal could usher in a new era of budget air travel for Japan. Landing fees at Ibaraki are less than half of Haneda's and two-thirds of Narita's. Ibaraki may be able to attract super low-price carriers. 

Getting to Ibaraki Aiport from Tokyo without a car requires taking a train from Ueno to Ishioka (¥2,860, 55 minutes) and then a bus to the airport (¥600, 35 minutes). There are also buses available from Mito Station and Ogawa Station.

The good news about flying into Ibaraki is that with absolutely no tourist destinations, you can just hightail it to the Tokyo metropolitan area without feeling guilty about not stopping to appreciate the local area. We recommend this tagline: 'Ibaraki Airport -- We don't even have that big temple like Narita.'

Preview image of a Skymark plane from flickr user woinary.