Japan regional airports rebound, but China visitor recovery slow

Japan's regional airports are seeing a recovery in international travelers as foreign tourists flood the country, returning in fiscal 2023 to just over 60% of the total for pre-pandemic fiscal 2019, but an absence of visitors from China is a headwind on a full recovery. Regional airports often have routes that serve relatively close Asian destinations, and some are seeing sharp rebounds mainly due to travelers from Taiwan. Last fiscal year, Kumamoto Airport, located in the southern island of Kyushu, hosted 233,000 international passengers, double the 114,000 in fiscal year 2019. Business travel was a large factor in that increase due to the opening of a chip plant there by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. The airport opened a passenger terminal with enhanced international flight support in 2023. In September, a new route to Taipei began service, making 12 round trips per week. The passenger load factor is a solid 80%. "More families are coming for sightseeing," said an airport operator representative. Kochi Airport, located on the island of Shikoku, started its first international scheduled charter flight service with Taiwan in May last year. International passengers increased fortyfold compared with fiscal 2019, going from 800 to 31,000 as the airport actively courted tour groups from Taiwan. Eight of the 43 regional airports with international flight operations exceeded passenger numbers for the fiscal 2019, according to the preliminary figures released by the Osaka Regional Civil Aviation Bureau and the Tokyo Regional Civil Aviation Bureau for fiscal 2023. The total international passengers recovered to about two-thirds of the fiscal 2019 level to 4.4m.<br/>