On July 1, Takamatsu Airport, JAL, and ANA held a joint commemorative event to mark the 60th anniversary of JAL’s flight from Takamatsu to Tokyo and the 30th anniversary of ANA’s flight from Takamatsu to Okinawa. Starting with a joint commemorative ceremony, the three companies held various events at various locations, attracting many participants throughout the day.
It is unusual for JAL and ANA, which are rivals on a daily basis, to jointly hold an anniversary commemorative event, as there have been few examples in the past.
The ceremony, held on a special stage in the departure lobby on the second floor of Takamatsu Airport, commemorated the 60th anniversary of JAL’s service from Takamatsu to Tokyo and the 30th anniversary of ANA’s service from Takamatsu to Okinawa, and was attended by Kagawa Prefecture Governor Toyoto Ikeda, executives from both JAL and ANA, the Takamatsu Airport President, and other related officials.
JAL’s Takamatsu-Haneda route was started in July 1963 by then Fuji Airlines using a 40-seat US Convair CV-240 aircraft, and since the JAS/JAL merger in 2004, approximately 9.5 million passengers have used the route. Currently, there are seven round-trip flights per day. On the other hand, ANA’s Takamatsu – Naha route was launched in July 1993. To date, approximately 2.6 million passengers have used the Takamatsu – Naha route.
In addition to the commemorative ceremony, visitors to the airport were entertained by a number of other events, including an “Airport Tour” on an open-top bus, a lecture by Hidekazu Tanaka, a former air traffic controller, an Okinawa eisa dance performance, a United Archers performance, and an aviation class by a JAL captain. The airport was filled with a variety of events that entertained the visitors.
Thirty people (15 people each x twice) selected by lottery boarded an open-top bus for a one-hour tour of the airport’s perimeter, with commentary by Hidekazu Tanaka, a former air traffic controller. The first tour was held with the roof closed due to rain, but the second tour was held with the roof open near the RWY26 end so that the passengers could enjoy the close-up view of passenger aircraft landing.
In his lecture titled “Aviation from the World of Air Traffic Control,” Hidekazu Tanaka projected an enroute chart showing flight paths and other information. The lecture was an hour of interesting content for aviation fans, including trivia and interesting stories to know. At the end of his lecture, he concluded, “Anyway, let’s all aviation fans together enliven our local airports.
Satoshi Fujita, Senior Manager of the Airport Sales Department at Takamatsu Airport, who was in charge of this event and played a central role in the preparations for the event, said, “It was difficult to coordinate with various organizations because there had been no precedent, but both JAL and ANA were very cooperative and we managed to pull it off. We would like to continue to plan various events to make Takamatsu Airport more than just a place to board a plane, such as collaborations with airlines and local companies to make the airport a destination,” he said.
In addition, Takamatsu Airport will hold a commemorative photo contest, and an award ceremony will be held at the “Takamatsu Airport Festival” scheduled for this fall around October. The period for submitting entries for the commemorative photo contest is as follows.
© Source travel watch