Sapporo New Chitose Airport Guide: Hokkaido’s Snow Hub
Sapporo New Chitose Airport is Hokkaido's gateway and one end of one of the busiest air routes on Earth. Read about its runways, terminals, routes and snow.
By The Aviation Hub
7 min read
Updated October 20, 2026 
Sapporo New Chitose Airport is the gateway to Hokkaido, Japan’s northern island, and the anchor of one of the two or three busiest air routes in the world. It sits beside a fighter base, operates around the clock and copes with some of the heaviest snowfall of any major airport. Around 24 million passengers used it in 2024, roughly half of them on the shuttle to Tokyo Haneda. Skiers, hot spring tourists and seafood lovers from across Asia keep it busy in every season.
Sapporo New Chitose Airport at a Glance
The codes are CTS and RJCC. Sapporo New Chitose Airport lies between the cities of Chitose and Tomakomai, about 28 miles (45 km) south east of Sapporo Station, at an elevation of 21 m (69 ft). It has two parallel runways and two terminals, a semicircular domestic building and a newer international terminal. The field shares taxiways and air traffic control with Chitose Air Base, home to Japan Air Self Defense Force F-15s and the Japanese government’s 777s.
In 2024 the airport handled roughly 24 million passengers and around 144,000 tonnes of cargo. All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines both treat it as a focus city, and the Hokkaido based carrier Air Do and the low cost operator Skymark keep bases here. Peach, Jetstar Japan and Spring Japan add low cost capacity. Hokkaido Airports Ltd, a private consortium, has run the terminal and the island’s other main airports since 2020 under a concession from the transport ministry. Flight information, the terminal spa and the hotels are listed on the airport’s official website.
How Hokkaido’s Airport Came to Be
Chitose began as a military field in the 1920s and became a major base for the Imperial Japanese Navy, then the United States Air Force, and finally the Japan Air Self Defense Force. Civil flights to Sapporo used the base from 1963 under joint use arrangements. By the 1980s the mix of fighters and a growing airline schedule had become unworkable, so the government built a separate civil airport with its own runways immediately to the east.
New Chitose opened on 20 July 1988 with the code SPK, which later became a city code also covering the small Okadama airport in Sapporo itself. Passengers used the old 1963 terminal at first, and the semicircular domestic terminal that still serves today opened in 1992. In 1994 the airport became the first in Japan to operate 24 hours a day, and it remains the only inland one of the country’s six round the clock airports. Night operations between 22.00 and 07.00 are limited to six flights because of noise.
The international terminal opened in 2010 to serve the booming inbound market from Korea, Taiwan, China and South East Asia. It was extended and roughly doubled in capacity by August 2019, with a hotel attached. The 2008 G8 summit at nearby Lake Toya brought a VIP lounge. Skytrax named New Chitose the world’s most improved airport in 2024 after a long programme of upgrades.
Runways at Sapporo New Chitose Airport
Sapporo New Chitose Airport has two parallel asphalt runways, 01L/19R and 01R/19L, each 3,000 m (9,843 ft) long and 61 m wide. They are close enough that they are not used for fully independent parallel approaches, and the field normally lands on one and departs from the other. Adjacent Chitose Air Base has its own pair, including a 4,000 m concrete strip, and the two airports are connected by taxiways.
The shared air traffic control with the air force caps civil operations at 32 movements an hour by day, and the military has historically restricted the hours available to international flights. Snow is the other defining feature. Hokkaido winters bring metre deep drifts, and the airport keeps a fleet of ploughs and blowers to clear the runways in rolling waves. When the civil runways are closed for clearing, airliners have occasionally used the air base runways next door. Heavy storms still cause cancellations and the famous sight of thousands of stranded passengers sleeping in the terminal.
Terminals and Airlines
The domestic terminal at Sapporo New Chitose Airport is a curved building with 18 gates arranged around its outer edge. It is unusual for the sheer amount of entertainment inside, with a hot spring spa, a cinema, a chocolate factory museum, a Doraemon attraction and dozens of restaurants serving Hokkaido ramen and seafood. The 188 room Air Terminal Hotel is built into it. ANA and JAL occupy opposite ends, with Air Do, Skymark, Peach and Jetstar Japan in between.
The international terminal stands on the western side with eight gates and the Hotel Portom International. Korean Air, Asiana, Jeju Air and other Korean carriers dominate, followed by EVA Air, China Airlines, Starlux and Tigerair from Taiwan, Cathay Pacific, Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines and Scoot. Qantas has flown seasonal services from Sydney for the ski season. The two terminals are linked by a walkway, and transfers between domestic and international flights involve a walk rather than an airside connection.
Routes and Destinations
The Sapporo to Tokyo Haneda route is the heart of the schedule. It carried about 12.1 million passengers in 2025, which makes it one of the busiest city pairs anywhere in the world, with ANA, JAL, Air Do and Skymark flying Boeing 777s, 787s, 767s and Airbus A350s on it, with several departures an hour across the day. Other major domestic routes include Tokyo Narita, Osaka Itami and Kansai, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Sendai. Dozens of regional Japanese cities have direct flights, many of them seasonal.
International flying is overwhelmingly to East and South East Asia, with Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Singapore and Shanghai among the main routes. Winter is the peak, when Niseko and the other resorts draw skiers from Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. Long haul is rare but growing. Qantas already runs seasonal flights to Sydney, and United and Air Canada flights to San Francisco and Vancouver are due to begin in December 2026. Cargo is dominated by Hokkaido seafood and produce bound for Tokyo and Asian markets.
Getting to and from Sapporo New Chitose Airport
JR Hokkaido’s Rapid Airport train runs from the station beneath the domestic terminal to Sapporo in around 37 minutes and continues to Otaru in just over 70. It is the cheapest sensible option at a little over JPY 1,000 (roughly £5) and departs every 12 to 15 minutes, though the Sapporo bound trains are often crowded and the reserved seat upgrade is worth the small extra cost.
Hokkaido Chuo Bus and Hokuto Kotsu run joint coach services to central Sapporo hotels and to the Susukino district in about 70 to 80 minutes. Donan Bus serves Tomakomai, Muroran and the Noboribetsu hot springs, and dedicated ski coaches run to Niseko, Rusutsu and Furano in winter. Taxis to Sapporo cost around JPY 15,000 (roughly £75) and take an hour. The Hokkaido Expressway gives road access, with large car parks facing both terminals and winter tyres essential from November to April.
Spotting and Photography
The domestic terminal has an observation deck on the roof with wide views over the aprons and both runways, and it is one of the better terminal decks in Japan. Outside, the roads and fields near the northern thresholds of 19L and 19R give good approach shots, and the hill parks around Chitose offer views of both the civil airport and the air base. The Air Terminal Hotel and the Hotel Portom have rooms facing the apron.
The attraction is the mix. Sapporo New Chitose Airport sees a steady stream of JAL and ANA wide bodies on the Tokyo shuttle, colourful low cost jets, Asian carriers and the occasional government 777, with F-15s climbing out from the base next door. Light is low and clear in winter and the snow banks make for dramatic backdrops. Stay on public roads, avoid the air base boundary entirely, which is patrolled, and remember that photographing military aircraft is tolerated but photographing security installations is not.
What Comes Next
The second international terminal phase and the Skytrax recognition have given the airport a strong platform. Hokkaido Airports is now working to lift international capacity further, extend the hours available to foreign carriers and attract long haul routes from North America. The Hokkaido Shinkansen, due to reach Sapporo in the 2030s, will compete with flights from Tokyo for the first time, though the journey will still take more than four hours.
The verdict is that Sapporo New Chitose Airport will remain one of the great domestic hubs of Japan while slowly becoming a serious international gateway. See how it compares with Haneda, Fukuoka and other Japanese airports on the Airports of the World map.
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