Japan opens 98th national airport in Ibaraki
11 March 2010Japan’s 98th airport has begun operations – offering just one flight a day. Ibaraki airport is located 80km (50 miles) and a long bus ride north of Tokyo.
The airport was conceived as a hub for budget carriers but the check-in counters were almost deserted as operations began. There is just one plane a day, to South Korea. Another flight, to the Japanese city of Kobe, will begin next month.
The airport has become a symbol of decades of public spending to prop up the economy that has left Japan studded with bridges to nowhere and unneeded dams.
source: BBC News
