The $268 million Ibaraki Airport is on schedule to open for business in March 2010. The hard part will be persuading an airline to fly there.
The government and Ibaraki Prefecture, home to 3 million people, are paying for the airport, which will be part of the Air Self-Defense Force's Hyakuri Air Base in Omitama, won't have train services and is a half-hour drive from Ibaraki's capital, Mito.
Japan Airlines Corp. and All Nippon Airways Co., which operate 90 percent of flights in the country, don't plan to use it.