Narita vs Haneda as hub

By Junichi Saruwatari

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13 Comments

bdiego at 06:49 AM JST - 20th October

The title "Narita vs Haneda" is really symbolic of how the issue is being played. But really, there's no reason both airports can't be fully utilized. The people really against Haneda are local officials with money lining their pockets. Their claims all boil down to "competition is bad" and tacit acknowledgement that Haneda is a way better location for an airport than Narita ever was. Narita's own history itself is lined with corruption and backroom deals.

I don't have a problem with Narita itself, I just don't see why we can't let Haneda prosper considering it's a way better location. It's already handling international flights, and given a fair choice almost everybody would use it. The practical reality however is Haneda doesn't have the capacity yet of Narita, and there isn't enough infrastructure to support that kind of traffic to and from the airpot. For that reason, Haneda is very high in demand with its limited slots, and people gladly pay double to fly from Haneda for flights like Korea. That's right, it costs double to fly to Korea from Haneda and people still pay it.
Pukey2 at 08:12 AM JST - 20th October

Well, I wouldn't say double, but flights (to Korea) from Haneda are certainly more expensive.
Beelzebub at 09:06 AM JST - 20th October

It's the same arrangement here in Kansai. If you want to use the more convenient Itami airport you pay more than to fly to Kanku.
Yelnats at 12:30 PM JST - 20th October

You cannot make any air port open all night long here until you let buses and trains run all night too.
cow76 at 01:02 PM JST - 20th October

You can if it is just for transit, which I think is the intention.
mrsynik at 04:25 PM JST - 20th October

Haneda to Seoul-Kimpo saves you at least 2 hours door-to-door. Keep in mind that Incheon Airport is about as far out of Seoul as Narita is from Tokyo and has no direct railway to downtown.
Airion at 04:52 PM JST - 20th October

Unless you're flying to a city nearby in Asia, the extra 30 minutes it takes to get to Narita airport vs Haneda is hardly worth complaining about when you consider the overall travel time of an international flight. I think too much is made of Narita's distance from central Tokyo. That said, it doesn't hurt passengers to have more options, so I'm happy to hear Haneda might get more international flights.
Ah_so at 06:48 PM JST - 20th October

Narita is a pretty useless airport and I have not been through since 2002. I use Seoul's lovely Incheon to fly in and out of Japan. Using a local Japanese airport and flying to Incheon removes most of the stress and the queues. Changing flights there is easy and stress-free.

The duty free is pretty good too.
memyselfI at 05:21 AM JST - 21st October

let's hope the prices go down !!!!!
bdiego at 07:18 AM JST - 21st October

Exactly, Seoul-Kimpo is a huge difference over Narita-Incheon, 2 hours less is about right. From where I am, it's 15 minutes to Haneda, 1 hour 45 minutes to Narita. But that's from Kanagawa. From Shinagawa it's about 30 minutes difference. Narita's not a terrible choice, I just don't see why politicians are trying to stop Haneda's international expansion so that people will have no choice but to choose Narita.
DeepAir65 at 10:31 AM JST - 21st October

It would be nice to see the option on more international flights from Haneda particularly in the region - would be good for business and tourism to have Haneda for flights to SEA.

Have they upgraded the International Terminal at all? I went to Korea from Haneda 4 years ago and I don't think they had spent any money on the terminal since 1970
The758 at 02:53 PM JST - 21st October

Haneda was originally over-taxed, which led to the struggle to build Narita. Now they want to jump back to Haneda? What a mess.
PepinGalarga at 04:38 AM JST - 22nd October

Just look at New York, they have JFK, they also have Newark and La Guardia. Definitely it's good to have some competition.

If all the bureaucracy, red tape and corruption were eliminated, it would result in greater convenience and lower fares for everyone.

It definitely helps that Haneda is closer to some pretty large population areas in th southern part of Tokyo, and that there are big logistics centers there to also handle air cargo.