Centrair Nagoya Airport

Nagoya Airport is an impressive building with a nice selection of shops and restaurants. However be prepared for excessive immigration queues fairly rude check-in staff and exceptionally brusque (indifferent at best) customs officers. Perhaps I just passed through on 2 occasions when everyone was having a bad day! Just don't expect much from the staff!

If you have the benefit of arriving there you'll be pleased with the smooth flow of passport control and customs. Plenty of staff on hand to assist even some volunteers to help you when you come out of customs if you don't speak much Japanese. The local impeccable train network is a 5 min walk from customs where you can connect right into Nagoya city within 30minutes. Departing out of Centrair the fourth floor is full of interesting places to shop and eat. So much space in the airport it's spotless. Skydeck is a treat and favorite is the sento (Japanese public bath) right up there on the fourth floor.

I have been though the new Nagoya Airport a handful of times which took over from the old and tired Komaki airport. Overall it is much better than the old airport being clean and relatively spacious. There is a small food court with a limited selection of food (western and Japanese) as well as high brand stores. Staff are very polite and my experience through customs and immigration has been excellent. We did sometimes have to wait a while but we were treated very well by staff which is a highlight of customer service in Japan. The airport has frequent connections (every 15 mins) to Nagoya city via the dedicated Meitetsu airport train which is wonderful. Cost (one way) for the Limited Express (25 mins) is 1100 yen / $11 and the Express (35 mins) is 830 yen / $8. You have both premium cars and standard cars I would go for the premium since there are less people and the interior is very nice but the standard is fine though often crowded. A decent airport.

Nagoya Centrair (Chubu) has one fantastic characteristic that we almost never ever see anymore today: a great open-air rooftop deck allowing for great views on the tarmac and runways. The airport building itself is pleasant and has many food courts before security but only a handful of (very expensive) shops and one disappointing restaurant beyond security. The departure gates area is very clean and relaxing but boring except for the big windows to watch planes and enjoy the view of the bay . It takes about 45min (and 110 USD) by taxi from the airport to downtown Nagoya.

The new Centrair airport is a vast improvement on the old Komaki airport which had all the charm of a bus-stop. However it's newness seems to be the only thing it has over the previous airport. It's design is almost exactly the same as Komaki's. The check-in and arrival areas are not that much bigger than Komaki's except there is a small shopping area and foodcourt upstairs. The shops in this area tend to be mostly high-end brand name vendors and the foodcourt is so small you can hardly ever get a seat there. In fact seating seems to be an issue in centrair. In the check-in area also there really aren't that many places to sit down and wait. This is different when you proceed through passport control and enter the departure area. It's huge and spacious. A lot of room here which is nice but it's also very empty. There are very few places to get food drinks or duty-free shopping. I had the over-all impression that perhaps the departure area of centrair is a bit too big. I was there during the christmas/new-year period yet there were hardly any flights leaving. Overall centrair is a good clean and spacious(on the departure side) airport. No problems with check-in arrival and baggage claim. It still feels a bit utilitarian though. Despite being new it's only a slight improvement. After using Komaki several times I was looking forward to a new and improved Nagoya airport. Centrair is an improvement but not much of one I'm afraid. I've never used Kansai yet but all the airports I've used in Japan to date tend to be no more than a place to check-in and simply just wait for your flight. Nothing more nothing less. Centrair is no different really. In the future I'll stick to Narita as it 's a similar distance for me to travel to.

Centrair is an amazing airport and far better than the old Nagoya airport. The airport's access to downtown is very efficient and convenient but lacks enough foreign language staff to help foreigners in need. Centrair's top floor is divided into a Japanese and Western areas. the Japanese side sells local foods and products. The Western side has a wide variety of restaurants ranging from French to Korean. Shops range from last minute to luxury. One of its great options is a Japanese Hot Spring bath - but the wait time is close to 1.5 hours. The departure area is very clean and relaxing but lacks small shops or cafes for getting that last minute thing. The DFS is all luxury goods and lacks local products. Luckily it has nice big windows to watch planes come and go and enjoy the view of the bay. The departure area has multiple internet connection tables but require users to be members of certain providers. Several locations are wireless and free for everyone. Transfering between International and Domestic is a simple walk after going through customs. Chubu International Airport is a great place and in my opinion better than Narita for convenience to a downtown area and better than Kansai for ease of use and shopping. This airport is a destination all its own.

Current Nagoya Airport is just clean. That's all. All of facilities shops and staffs are filled with so many problems. I am Japanese so it's no problem. But as for passengers from outside countries it is big PROBLEM and big HEADACHE. The first when you get off the airplane immigration tests your patience. (almost every "foreigner" looks like complaint obviously) they immigration staffs speak worse English with grumpy face. The second when you go out of airport for transportation Far less English signs are waiting for you. Mentioning to departure in the common area there are few food shops and shopping stores - bad and expensive. Besides All goods of them is for Japanese. According to the government and Nagoya local government Next year 2005 they will complete to architect "New Nagoya Airport (We call 'New Chubu Int'l Airport') " at the seashore in Tokoname town. To be physically far from the Nagoya center - it is no doubt. Probably as the same as Narita and Kansai new airport will put facilities food shops and immigration staffs who speak worse English. This is the very nightmare. Awful. Terrible.