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The government of Japan is to privatize Fukuoka International Airport, Japan’s fourth biggest airport measured by passenger traffic after Tokyo Narita, Tokyo Haneda and Kansai.

Japan is proposing a 30 year concession contract to run the airport, which handles around 21 million passengers a year.

Japan plans to use funds from the transaction to develop a second runway. The project involves the construction of a 2.5 km runway west of the current 2.8 km runway and establish such facilities as a landing area and a guide path. 

The government also aims to ease congestion at the airport and increase the number of visitors from overseas.

The runway project total investment is estimated at ¥180 billion (US$1.52 billion). According to sources, ¥120 billion (US$1.01 billion) of them are expected to be raised by selling the operation rights of the airport.

We had already informed in July 2016 that the government of Japan started a market sounding exercise to select a qualified private firm to run the airport through a concession contract. In early 2015, Japan expressed its intention to to carry out the soft privatization of the airport. 

The approximate timetable for Fukuoka Airport’s privatization is as follows:

• May 2017: Publication of application guidelines
• May 2018: Selection of a preferred bidder
• August 2018: Execution of project agreement
• April 2019: Takeover of airport business

This is the third wave of airport privatization in Japan to date. As we reported in early March, ORIX Corporation - VINCI Airports consortium closed financing for the 44-year concession of Kansai International Airport and Osaka International Airport.

In September 2015 we informed that Japan selected a team made up general contractor Maeda Corporation and railway operator Tokyu Corporation as the preferred bidder for the rights to operate and improve facilities at Sendai Airport, which is Japan's 10th busiest airport.