#9 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings.
173 reviews
Let's throw back to February time. It is rather a short and simple flight, but when I go through my photo folders I decide to write this flight report also. Hokkaido is a large place. Taking trains moving across some areas may be very time consuming, like if you decide to move between Sapporo and Hakodate, now it takes around 4 hour (but it may be different after the Shinkansen extends to Sapporo, ummm, we need to wait for some years before it comes into the operation). So another way to travel across some cities in Hokkaido maybe is by airplane.
It worths visiting Hokkaido during the winter time, to explore the area and enjoy the nature beauty in this area. At Abashiri during January - February, there is a higher chance to see ice draft and there are cruise to take you to see those ice floating on the sea. Therefore i took this chance to take the plane to the closet airport - MMB and then go to Abashiri to take the boat trip.
Sapporo at Night view from my hotel. I stayed at the hotel right above the JR station this time. Unfortunately the weather was quite bad and i could not enjoy the beautiful city view this time.
After check out from the hotel, i took the taxi to the airport, Okadama Airport. It is a small airport located around 15 - 30 minutes car ride distance from the city center of Sapporo. But remember to tell the driver of which airport you are going to, as mainly tourists will use New Chitose Airport to reach Hokkaido and i guess they may have a chance to take you to the wrong airport, and so i double check with the driver several times. Apart from taxi, you may reach the airport by taking subway to change for the bus.
The airport is quite small, as it is a local airport. As checked that originally ANA and JAL operates flights from Okadama Airport. But ANA has moved their flights to New Chitose Airport already. And so now only JAL operates flights from this airport. FDA, which is an airline based in Shizuoka prefecture, also runs some seasonal flights to take tourists travel between Shizuoka and Sapporo.
It is my first time to take the domestic flight in Japan. The check-in is smooth and the attendant knows English quite well and so language is not a borden. And before dropping off the checked luggage, the luggage will need to pass through the X-ray security check first.
Right before entering the waiting room of the flight. The terminal building is small, with one or two souvenir shops only.
A clearer image showing the route map of Sapporo Okadama Airport's flight.
The terminal building consists of three floors. The ground floor is the check in area. The second floor is the security check and waiting room ,souvenir shops. And the third floor is the office area and the observation floor. I quite like the fact that they will build the observation decks at those Japanese Airports and usually it is free of charge to visit those observation decks. From the above picture you can see that another aircraft that mainly JAL uses to take passengers across Hokkaido. As i remember that this flight will travel to Hakodate. and the flight is under some defrosting work.
For getting to the waiting room area, you would need to pass through the X-ray. The carry on luggage will be scanned. And if you are wearing thick jackets and shoes, you would also need to take them off and pass through the x-ray.
The terminal is small and seems there is no bridge facilities to reach the plane. So you would need to walk to the plane. It is alright, as it also gives a chance of taking lovely photos of the plane.
Some information about the plane
Registration no.: JA11HC
Aircraft Type : ATR 42
Delivered : Dec 2019
My seat is just next to the engine of the plane.
Here is the safety card of the plane, and a map showing the route map operated by JAL in Hokkaido.
It is time to sit back and enjoy the nature beauty of Hokkaido during the snowy winter time! As the flight does not fly at a very high attitude, therefore you would have chance to enjoy such wonderful scenery throughout the journey.
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Since it is really a very short flight, just a 45 minute flight (i wish it could fly a little bit longer so that i could have chance to take more photos of the snowy mountains and farmlands from the sky, together with the clouds…), there is no much inflight service, and there is no inflight entertainment system at seats. Instead, they will still distribute a cup of drink throughout the flight. This time, a cup of grape juice is distributed. It is a joyful moment of having a drink and enjoy those beautiful sceneries on the plane.
Time runs fast and it is about time to land. Despite the mountain ranges, you can enjoy sceneries of flat lands and farmlands at the time near arrival.
i did not take a better picture of the cabin. As i remember that the seat configuration is 2-2. And the door to get on and get off the plane is located at the back of the aircraft.
For this kind of small aircraft, there is no bridge for you to walk to the terminal. So you would have a chance to take some good photos of the aircraft.
Memanbetsu Airport Terminal is a little bit bigger, with more shops but around 1-2 more compare with Okadama Airport. After getting the baggage, i remember i would need to wait for 5-15 minutes for the baggage, i guess it is somehow a little bit long for such a small aircraft and small airport, I go to take the bus to Abashiri city directly. As it is common that in small local airports in Japan that, the timetable is arranged according to the flight schedule, which means it may be time consuming if you miss the bus that take you to the city center after you get off the plane. So i did not take much photos at Memanbetsu Airport.
Overall speaking, although there are not much to do at the airport and on plane, as the airport is a small size one and the flight time is very short, still i enjoy the flight. The staff are polite and proactive. They communicate with me well.
And the scenery of hokkaido is really wonderful. Glad that i could have chance to enjoy the flight on a clear weather day. as you know, snowstorm may hit hokkaido and there may have a chance of cancellation of flight.
7 Comments
OKD and MMB may be very small airports, but they're very efficient, like many Japanese airports.
Nice pictures of Snowy Hokkaido, reminds me my last trip 3 years ago, but the other way around.
Mere curiosity, did you have the opportunity to attend the Sapporo's Snow Festival ?
Have safe flights.
HQ is in Shizuoka, but very limited routes out of FSZ. NKM is still its largest base.
JL has a lot of work to keep up with NH on Hokkaido network. From what I remember, NH was still the sole operators to Nakashibetsu and Wakkanai.
Wow. Seems that there are still a lot of places to explore in Hokkaido! Never heard of Nakashibetsu and Wakkanai!
I see. Interesting that FSZ is just right next to the Shinkansen Track. If it is possible, building a station would make the airport more attractive / convenient. But seems JR would not do so..sigh
Thanks for sharing!
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