Japan’s Spectacular Floating Airports
What happen when there’s no suitable land to build a new major airport or there are protest about the new construction without hesitation due to noise pollution or other environmental implications?
If you travel to Japan in the near future, you may witness a solution to these problems in the form of floation airports. At present there are four such constructions in Japan . Each built on its own artificial island offshore and each backed by the community it serves. The first of these incredible engineering wonders to be built and the first of its kind in the world was Kansai International Airport in Osaka Bay. Just to build the 4 kilometres long island called for 21 million cubic metres of landfill plus the assistance of 80 ships, then there was the small matter of connecting the airport to the mainland by way of a 3 kilometres bridge. In total the project has so far cost around $20 billion, but has already saved some expense by surviving both an earthquake and a typhoon in the last 15 years, in addition being open 24 hours a day due to its location.
Here are Japan’s four floating airports :
Kansai International Airport
New Kitakyushu Airport
Chubu Centrair International Airport
