Airport conquest series. Nagasaki Prefecture has three island airports beyond Nagasaki Airport itself: Fukue (Gotō), Iki, and Tsushima. All are connected to Nagasaki Airport by Oriental Air Bridge (ORC).
Nagasaki Airport was already visited on a separate occasion, so this trip focused on conquering the three island airports. The approach: three round trips from Nagasaki Airport to Iki, Fukue, and Tsushima, all in one day. At each island, I turned around without leaving the airport.
The full series index is here.
Route Design
All three island airports are 30–35 minutes from Nagasaki Airport by ORC. Checking the timetables, I found that doing round trips in the order of Iki → Fukue → Tsushima allows all three airports plus the return flight to Haneda to fit in a single day.
The key is the turnaround time at each island. Iki has a return flight 20 minutes after landing. Fukue is the same. Tsushima is also 20 minutes. That leaves only about 20 minutes inside each airport — no time to step outside. No sightseeing at all, but since the goal is airport conquest, that’s fine.
Itinerary (as of May 2022)
Total: approximately ¥100,680. Timetables are subject to change. Check the latest schedules before traveling.
Risks
All flights are on ORC small aircraft. If even one flight is canceled or significantly delayed, the entire subsequent itinerary collapses. Island routes are particularly weather-dependent. Worst case, you could be stranded on an island and unable to return the same day.
The 20-minute turnaround at each island also leaves no margin — even a slight arrival delay could mean missing the return flight.
This time, all flights operated on schedule and the three airports were conquered without issue.
Alternative Plan: 2 Nights / 3 Days with Island Exploration
I also considered a slower plan that allows actual time on each island.
Day 1: Haneda → Nagasaki → Fukue → Nagasaki → Tsushima (overnight)
Day 2: Tsushima → Iki (overnight)
Day 3: Iki → Nagasaki → Haneda
This plan uses a variety of transport: ferry to Fukue then flight back, ferry from Tsushima to Iki. It allows about 4 hours on Fukue, one night each on Tsushima and Iki — enough for some sightseeing. However, it requires two nights’ accommodation and additional days.
I chose the day trip plan this time.