Sir James

Centrair: open skies for business

Centrair, a new Japanese airport, has opened today.

February 17, 2005 6:21 PM GMT (Datamonitor) - Centrair is aiming to become the country's main freight hub, handling the air cargo needs of automotive and hi-tech companies in Japan's manufacturing heartland. However, Centrair will need to win its share of cargo currently handled by rival international airports Kansai and Narita, and expanding the range of destinations it serves should be a priority.


Central Japan International Airport Company, a half-public, half-private joint venture, has opened Japan's third major airport, which it hopes will become a major international hub for air cargo. Centrair (or Chubu airport), located 35km south of Nagoya in the Chubu region of Japan, will operate 24 hours a day, serving international cargo and passenger flights.

Toyota, which has its manufacturing base in the Chubu region, is the airport's largest private sector stakeholder, and will be one of its first customers. While it will continue to ship some output via Japan's two biggest gateways, Centrair's main rivals Kansai and Narita, Toyota has said that it will "cut shipping costs by utilizing [Chubu] airport, which is close to our factories".

The Chubu region is also home to the plants of other key air freight users such as Sony, Sharp and many other automotive and hi-tech firms, which are typical users of air cargo services to move their high-value, time-critical products and components. The new airport should benefit as these customers switch at least some of their air shipments from Narita and Kansai to Centrair, which hopes to handle 270,000 tons of international airfreight in fiscal 2005.

Centrair boasts some significant advantages as a cargo hub, such as its flexible 24-hour operations permitting the night flights that cargo and express companies rely upon for next-day deliveries. Its single, 3,500 meter runway will accommodate the giant Airbus A380 and crucially, landing fees are considerably lower than at Kansai and Narita. So far seven freight carriers including FedEx, Japan Airlines and Korean Air are to operate from Centrair, which will initially see 26 cargo flights and 293 international passenger flights per week.

None of Chubu's weekly cargo flights are for European destinations, with only nine for the US. The rest are all for Asian destinations. To achieve its aim of becoming Japan's key cargo hub, Centrair will need to ramp up cargo volumes quickly, and attract more carriers offering a wider range of destinations to boost its global network.