BANGKOK, 10 September 2018: Thai Airways International has resumed its normal flight schedule between Bangkok and Sapporo in Hokkaido, Japan, after the reopening of New Chitose Airport.
The airport was forced to close after a 6.7 magnitude earthquake hit Hokkaido, but by Saturday around 1,600 tourists from China and Korea were able to leave on flights after spending a night at the airport.
Hokkaido authorities confirmed at the weekend 30 people had died in the earthquake or massive landslides.
Landslides seriously damaged Atsuma, a village in north Hokkaido, while Sapporo suffered some structural damage and power cuts.
But by the weekend bullet trains resumed service and New Chitose Airport partially reopened.
THAI vice president aviation security and standards, Pratana Patanasiri, said officials had checked safety and announced the opening of New Chitose Airport, last Saturday.
THAI can now operate five roundtrip flights per week from Bangkok-Sapporo. Flight TG670 departs from Suvarnabhumi Airport at 2345 and arrives at New Chitose Airport at 0830 on the following day (local time) and the return flight TG671 that departs from New Chitose Airport at 1030 (local time) and arrives at Suvarnabhumi Airport at 1530.
Meanwhile Osaka’s Kansai airport has now partially reopened after a typhoon struck west Japan, last week, killing 11 people and causing massive damage to coastal towns including Osaka’s main airport. Around 700 flights were cancelled due to runway flooding and damage to a service road leading to the airport.
