Japan’s Toyama Airport plans for 2025 concession as privatisation programme stirs again

If there have been two solid country pillars of privatisation in the airport sector this last decade or so, they have been Brazil and Japan.

In Brazil's case the concession procedure, which pre-dated Japan's by five years, is almost complete. In Japan's case only some 15% of the airports have been concessioned, and the procedure ran out of steam during the COVID-19 pandemic, with several opportunities that arose during it still not completed.

So it was a surprise to see that the prefecture that administers Toyama Airport is seeking a competitive bidding process for it, and that it has already attracted attention from 25 potential bidders.

They are probably Japanese conglomerates and SMEs that believe they have something special or extra to offer any consortium; that has often been the way of things there. Foreign organisations may be conspicuous by their absence.

The reason is that where local pride comes into the equation in Japan; that is not the case with foreign organisations, which only see the bottom line and the potential for profitable expansion.

Toyama, unfortunately, does not seem to offer much opportunity in that respect as things stand, but that does not mean a deal is not possible by any means.

The following report looks into Toyama Airports, and its privatisation offers, strengths and weaknesses.