insights from frontier Japan

Hokkaido Airports Co., Ltd. (Chitose) and Hakodate Airport Terminal Building Co., Ltd. (Hakodate) have begun a verification experiment of a ‘remote guidance service’ at the General Information Desk on the first floor of the Domestic Passenger Terminal Building of Hakodate Airport, where staff members answer users' questions via an avatar (animated character) on the screen. The experiment, the first of its kind in Hokkaido, was conducted until December 8.

In commemoration of 60 years since its opening, on April 25 Southern Hokkaido's Hakodate Airport held an event called "Parent and Child Adventure! Runway Walk at Hakodate Airport". A total of 38 parents and children from areas including the city of Hakodate participated. They strolled along the runway, an area that is normally closed to the public, and experienced the amazing size of that area firsthand.

The Akaigawa Interchange (IC)–Hakodate Airport IC section (7.6 km) of the Hakodate New Ring Road (Airport Road) in the city of Hakodate in Southern Hokkaido opened on March 28, making it possible to drive the entire 10 km between the Hakodate IC and Hakodate Airport IC.

Hokkaido Airports Co., Ltd. (HAP, Chitose) began operation of runways and the like at 5 airports in Hokkaido – at Hakodate, Kushiro, Obihiro, Memanbetsu and Wakkanai – on March 1, as transfer integration of operations of airport buildings and the airports themselves was completed at all 7 Hokkaido airports subject to privatization.

A food-court-style restaurant serving rice topped with seafood opened on February 16 in “HakoDake HaLL”, a multipurpose space on the 3rd floor of the domestic terminal building of Hakodate Airport.

A cleaning robot equipped with artificial intelligence was introduced in south Hokkaido's Hakodate Airport in January, where it has taken over some of the cleaning work. Amidst an increase in disinfecting work due to novel coronavirus spreading, this robot has been successful in decreasing strain on human employees.

A Hokkaido Air System (HAC, Sapporo) SAAB 340B (36-seater) propeller aircraft was retired from service on December 29 last year, and an event to commemorate the final flight was held at Hakodate Airport.