Hiroshima Airport privatisation delayed, but only by 3 months

While airport privatisation procedures and deals have been suspended around the world, the timescale is only slightly amended in Japan, where the next one, that of Hiroshima Airport, has only been put back by a matter of months.

Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) plans to delay the schedule for privatising Hiroshima International Airport by three months, due to the impact of coronavirus on air travel.

The airport is now scheduled to begin private operation in Jul-2021, rather than Apr-2021.

Japan is a country where the notion of privatising airports had not advanced as far as it had in some economically comparable countries. Government deficit was a major reason, but the need to boost tourism and the growth of LCCs were main driving forces for a change of mind in that respect. The concept of privatisation as a "good thing" is now broadly agreed upon by political parties and there is common ground and a common purpose: to increase tourism.

Japan's airport privatisation got off to a slow start, and the authorities are adamant it will now stick to its timescale, come what may.