New Chitose Airport — Sapporo, Japan

Hokkaido's principal air gateway, New Chitose Airport carries the code CTS and shares its runways with a Japan Air Self-Defense Force base, a joint civil-military arrangement dating back to the facility's origins as a wartime airfield. It replaced an older, flood-prone Chitose airport in the 1980s and has since become one of Japan's busiest domestic hubs, with the route linking it to Tokyo's Haneda Airport ranking among the most heavily traveled in the world. Beyond aviation, the terminal complex is something of a destination itself, featuring an underground shopping arcade, a cinema, and even an onsen hot-spring facility where travelers can bathe between flights. Winter brings heavy snowfall that tests the airport's extensive de-icing and runway-clearing operations, while the same season fuels a surge of visitors bound for Niseko's ski resorts and Sapporo's snow festival.