New Chitose Airport is an airport serving the Sapporo metropolitan area. It is adjacent to Chitose Air Base, a Japan Air Self-Defense Force base. Chitose and New Chitose have separate runways but are interconnected by taxiways. As of 2005, New Chitose Airport is the third busiest airport in Japan, behind Narita and Haneda with more than 19 million passengers. The 894 km New Chitose – Tokyo Haneda route is the busiest air route in the world.
New Chitose opened in 1991 to replace the adjacent Chitose Airport, a joint-use facility which had served passenger flights since 1963.
Source: Wikipedia