Maehara's comments on Narita, Haneda draw mixed reaction

Wednesday 14th October, 09:18 AM JST

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Speed at 09:27 AM JST - 14th October

Yes that's right, Neojamal. But that's exactly what I'd like to know - what was their rational 30 years ago to do this? Because if I were in their shoes, building an airport way out in the next prefecture (remember Narita was even more remote back then) would've required a compelling reason to do so. What were their reasons?
timorborder at 10:04 AM JST - 14th October

Too little too late. Japan is behind the times if it thinks it can get in on this hub airport gig. This debate should have occurred 30 years ago.

With regard to updating Haneda to full international status, Narita has had its chance for a long time. But between high landing fees and an inability to develop runways (due to the legal wrangles with land owners), I think a lot of people have lost faith in Narita as airport.

Anyway, it is good to see that the new government is actually considering the big issues, rather than just pork barreling to special interest groups like those proponents of regional international airports in Japan, that once constructed are white elephants.
Mittsu at 10:34 AM JST - 14th October

Change as promised. the fact that vested interests are not happy and demandind "consultation" can only be a good thing,
The_Last_Samurai at 12:23 PM JST - 14th October

@Genkidesuka,

Kuala Lampur airport is 30 mins by bus, Moscow airport is as far as Narita is from Tokyo. Hong Kong is 30 mins train ride from the starting point (i.e. Central station). Haneda, till recently had 2 airstrips. so they could not handle huge load. This was the prime reason for shifting to Narita, which ofcourse led to lots of issues. one fallout was that the proposed Narita shinkansen idea was dropped. Haneda with its increased capacity is a more viable option.
tokorobam at 12:50 PM JST - 14th October

Two things Japan must do to fix the airport problem in Kanto: 1) high speed and frequent (every 15 minutes) rail service between the airports that is a 30 minute max trip and 2) A third major airport in the Tokyo region (a megalopolis of 30 million with only two is insufficient).
noborito at 04:36 PM JST - 14th October

Change for the better is always hammered down. Japanese are a bunch of "M's" They like pain. Have no idea of what 24 hour service is. For that matter they have no idea of what service really is. Not like 15 years ago when Japan had decent service. Just ask someone a question. You will get the standard "chotto mate" Why they find out the answer. This guy's awesome idea will be hammered so far into the ground, nothing will ever change.
smithinjapan at 07:04 PM JST - 14th October

‘‘It does not mean shifting international flights from Narita to Haneda,’’

Ummm... then what does it mean, given that you want to make it the international hub of Japan?

"A fourth runway at Haneda airport, officially known as Tokyo International Airport, is scheduled to open in October next year and is expected to sharply boost capacity, allowing the airport to offer around 407,000 departure and arrival slots per year."

Get ready for your tickets to be jacked up in price, and if they think they're going to get MORE flights they're nuts. Flights are being cut in Japan left and right because they have the most expensive landing costs in the world... building a new run way is not going to give the customer, or airlines, a discount. As with Kansai when they opened the second runway, which ALL airlines were against (and the survey later thrown away by Kansai officials when they didn't like the response), you'll see a couple of flights away reduced to one or zero.

This is simply another politician expressing the need to make their airport of choice 'more important'. And of course increasing domestic construction.
ultradodgy at 09:45 PM JST - 14th October

"Mixed reaction??"

Not from the voters! Perhaps from entrenched interest groups - exactly the reason why the LDP was voted out!
NeoJamal at 10:04 PM JST - 14th October

Well, if we want more international flights at Haneda, someones gotta start reclaiming more land because the new international terminal planned to open next year isn't big enough to accomodate Narita's existing load.
NeoJamal at 10:16 PM JST - 14th October

Well, if we want more international flights at Haneda, someones gotta start reclaiming more land because the new international terminal planned to open next year isn't big enough to accomodate Narita's existing load.

I explain that it's just not a matter of expanding the terminal, the newly allocated international precinct apron isn't big enough to accomodate a further satellite concourse extension. A 2nd international terminal has to be built somwhere else. Tenkuubashi and the old maintenance precinct might be a prospect for re-development.
nigelboy at 11:50 PM JST - 14th October

"Why did they build and make Narita Int. Airport when Haneda had already existed and was being used as an international airport back in the early-70s? Was this because they didn't have the technology back then to build artificial islands on the bay to extend Haneda Airport?

The amount of effort they had to go through to persuade/coerce the Narita farmers to give up their land would've been better used to do the same in the Haneda area, in my opinion."

The cost of developing an additional extension was considered but it was determined to be too expensive. You also have to take into consideration that Japan was in a midst of significant economic growth and that even with the completion of Narita, Haneda was still at full capacity with their domestic routes and commerce.

The below link indicates an even further increase in Haneda even though international flights were transferred to Narita.

http://www.pa.ktr.mlit.go.jp/haneda/haneda/okiten/f20101.html

In addition, you also got to take in consideration that Japan is talking about "hubbing" Haneda is because the airline industry is in a slump including the domestic flights but the expansion.

Hindsight is always 20/20.
kp123 at 01:04 AM JST - 15th October

I'm not much on travelling to Japan on account of that 45 mile bus ride from Narita to downtown Tokyo. But worst is the connecting flights available out of Narita to other cities in Japan. I frequently need to take the shuttle bus to Haneda to catch the last flight to my final destination in Western Japan. The 10pm curfew although well-intended does present travel problems if Japan wants to raise its level to international standards. Travel in Japan is not easy although the individual links (ground and air) are well managed, but in their entirety its physically exhausting ... and expensive with the Yen rate rising as it is.
888naff at 03:21 AM JST - 15th October

@smithinjapan "Flights are being cut in Japan left and right because they have the most expensive landing costs in the world... "

is that true?

usually on flights i've taken between various points in europe and Japan the europe landing fees take up a much larger percentage of the extra fees.

I wonder where you got your impression from?
888naff at 03:25 AM JST - 15th October

"I'm not much on travelling to Japan on account of that 45 mile bus ride"

not much different to london "busiest international airport" where the london airports have comparable traffic rates to the japan "tokyo" airports.

I mean if the airport was right in the city it wouldn't be great for city pollution / noise.

I dont think having international big airports outside the city is really just a tokyo thing.
norinrad21 at 04:46 AM JST - 15th October

Schiphol Airport is only 13 minutes from Amsterdam. Tokyo Narita airport is not even in Tokyo, its far far away in Chiba