Located in the centre of Hokkaido Island, New Chitose is Japan's third busiest airport and the main gateway to Hokkaido. Operating 24 hours a day, it offers flights to various Asian cities along with a vast array of domestic connections. From the airport, it's a 40-minute transfer into Hokkaido's capital city Sapporo.

New Chitose Airport has separate domestic and international terminals. Over 10 million annual passengers fly between New Chitose and Tokyo Haneda, making it the busiest air route in the world. Various airlines offer domestic flights to destinations across Japan, including Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways, and a handful of budget carriers. International flights connect New Chitose with Asian destinations, mostly in China and South Korea but also stretching south to Singapore and East to Honolulu.

An express train service runs from the airport to Sapporo Train Station, taking just under 40 minutes. For most destinations in Hokkaido, visitors will need to change trains in Sapporo, the exception being the south coast at Noboribetsu. Throughout the winter ski season, bus services provide convenient travel between the airport and the ski resorts of Niseko, Rusutsu, and Furano.

The airport opened in 1991 and shares air traffic control with the adjacent Chitose Air Base, with a strange restriction that Chinese and Russian aircraft are not permitted to land on Mondays and Thursdays.