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Old Jun 27, 2010, 1:50 am
  #46  
 
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I did a blog post on the Skymark pullout.

What's interesting is that they are claiming that they want to dramatically increase their service between Ibaraki and Kobe, but that the SDF are getting in the way. Apparently the airport really is a lot cheaper for airlines and many travelers, despite being in the middle of nowhere.
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Old Dec 10, 2010, 9:54 pm
  #47  
 
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IBR may be in the middle of nowhere, but at least it's cheap to go there: apparently buses from Tokyo-eki cost just 500 yen if you hold a flight ticket. ^

http://www.ibaraki-airport.net/en/ac...bto_tokyo.html

The Ibaraki-Kobe route is back in action, and Skymark says they'll start flying to Sapporo and Chubu in Feb 2011.
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Old Dec 11, 2010, 10:15 pm
  #48  
 
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Originally Posted by jpatokal
IBR may be in the middle of nowhere, but at least it's cheap to go there: apparently buses from Tokyo-eki cost just 500 yen if you hold a flight ticket. ^
If the website is to believe, those buses also apparently take 2.5 hours.

Leave central Kobe at 7.30am, get in to Tokyo at 12.40pm. You can do it practically 2 hours quicker on the Shinkansen!
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Old Dec 12, 2010, 1:18 am
  #49  
 
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Originally Posted by NickW
If the website is to believe, those buses also apparently take 2.5 hours.

Leave central Kobe at 7.30am, get in to Tokyo at 12.40pm. You can do it practically 2 hours quicker on the Shinkansen!
Doesn't seem practical for most business travelers, but maybe budget travelers would opt for that, assuming that the flight was much cheaper than the Tokyo-Kobe Shinkansen (which I suspect that it is).

Just look at the "high-speed bus" service from Tokyo to Osaka: how long does that take vs the Shinkansen or a flight? Yet, it exists, and people take it simply because it's cheaper.
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Old Dec 12, 2010, 5:40 pm
  #50  
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Originally Posted by Steve M
Doesn't seem practical for most business travelers, but maybe budget travelers would opt for that, assuming that the flight was much cheaper than the Tokyo-Kobe Shinkansen (which I suspect that it is).

Just look at the "high-speed bus" service from Tokyo to Osaka: how long does that take vs the Shinkansen or a flight? Yet, it exists, and people take it simply because it's cheaper.
Indeed. Plus, IBR can pull in passengers from North Kanto for whom going all the way into Tokyo is a hassle -- and parking is free.
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Old Dec 12, 2010, 5:43 pm
  #51  
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Another interesting bit of news is about the first end-of-year school trip that IBR hosted:

http://www.ibaraki-airport.net/news/news-29.html

Since IBR is cheap to fly from, and students on a school trip are going to be moving to/from the airport by bus anyway, I can easily see more schools looking to use IBR for trips to Hokkaido, Kansai, or Kyushu.
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Old Dec 12, 2010, 9:15 pm
  #52  
 
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Originally Posted by armagebedar
Another interesting bit of news is about the first end-of-year school trip that IBR hosted:

http://www.ibaraki-airport.net/news/news-29.html

Since IBR is cheap to fly from, and students on a school trip are going to be moving to/from the airport by bus anyway, I can easily see more schools looking to use IBR for trips to Hokkaido, Kansai, or Kyushu.
School trips often trigger a lot of op-ups. Busy business travelers holding a Y ticket can sometimes find a good reason to fly from IBR when the plane OZ uses is bigger than usual.

For the trip mentioned, it used B767 with 250 seats, 190 of which were occupied by the students and teachers.
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Old Dec 13, 2010, 2:39 am
  #53  
 
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Originally Posted by NickW
If the website is to believe, those buses also apparently take 2.5 hours.
From Ibaraki to Tokyo, yes, but if the website is to be believed, it's only 1:40 from Tokyo to Ibaraki -- and the Japanese page only lists this direction.

http://www.ibaraki-airport.net/acces.../tb_tokyo.html
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Old Dec 13, 2010, 3:41 am
  #54  
 
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Nah, it's there, you're just not looking in the right place...

http://www.ibaraki-airport.net/acces...bto_tokyo.html

I'm a bit at a loss to explain the huge discrepancy in the timings though.
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