There are about 40 nations that still want slots at Narita. In addition, for the eastern part of Tokyo, Narita is actually closer.

Sunday 13th July, 06:49 AM JST

Tokyo Vice Governor Naoki Inose, on the pros and cons of increasing international flights out of Haneda vs Narita. (Asahi)

9 Comments

Statistician at 10:30 AM JST - 13th July

It is certainly closer to Chiba-ken
wilbur at 12:35 PM JST - 13th July

narita is a dump, it should close or be made into a domestic-only airport, and haneda should become the main int'l airport..."gateway to asia" my ass
RepublicofTexas at 04:12 PM JST - 13th July

Narita has a lot more potential for expansion than closed in Haneda. Haneda's problems echo London Heathrow which doesn't have space to expand and compete with continental airports like Charles de Gaulle and Schiphol.

(wikipedia) "The Narita Rapid Railway, scheduled to open in 2010, will alleviate the problem to some extent by shaving 20 minutes off the travel time. It has been announced that new Skyliner express trains with a maximum speed of 160 km/h will travel on this new line between Tokyo's Nippori Station and Airport Terminal 2 Station in 36 minutes, which compares favourably with other major airports worldwide. Improvements such as the Wangan Expressway have shaved off travel time to Kanagawa Prefecture by bypassing Tokyo."
ultradodgy at 10:40 PM JST - 13th July

Haneda has plenty of space to expand and is doing so already. The international terminal opens in a year and a half. Expect most if not all int'l traffic to be going through Haneda by 2015. For political purposes this isn't being openly discussed, but if you take a look at the Narita plans vs Haneda plans you can clearly see what direction the future will take.

Narita is actually a fine airport in terms of efficiency, planning, appearance, etc - not perfect, but pretty damn good. But - and Republic of Texas, this really isn't a debate - it's 50 kms too far away. It's in the wrong place. I don't care what Wikipedia says, I fly out of Narita all the time, and compared with other major international airports it is horribly inconvenient. Shaving "20 mins" off an hour and a half journey still makes it one of the worst commuting airports on the planet.
RepublicofTexas at 10:47 PM JST - 13th July

Republic of Texas, this really isn't a debate - it's 50 kms too far away.

I am not saying that Narita is the perfect airport or that its convenient, I'm just saying that it isn't as bad as some people think and I never said Haneda didn't have potential, I'm just saying that I think it has less space for expansion (less not none). I fly out of Narita a lot too btw. Sucks though that Continental was moved to terminal 1, though it seems less crowded.
wilbur at 05:08 PM JST - 14th July

look, we all know the japanese govt hates competition in all forms, international and domestic...thats why the NEX takes exactly the same amount of time to tokyo station as the busses...what makes you think the new train, while able to shave 20 mins off the travel time, will actually do so ? you're not believing the j-govt press release, are you ?
Altria at 05:18 PM JST - 14th July

It still takes an hour on the Narita Express to get to central Tokyo. They need something faster, like a plane.
RepublicofTexas at 05:29 PM JST - 14th July

Didn't they at one time consider a shinkansen?
realist at 02:31 PM JST - 15th July

Narita is a nice airport - much better than either Heathrow (Thief Row) and certainly much superior to the dirty hole that is CDG Paris, with its rude and overbearing security staff. However, it is just too far from Tokyo and way to inconvenient. Haneda is by far the better oprtion. The Tokyo Vice Governor seems to be as brainless as his Boss Ishihara. To say that Narita is closer than Haneda is just plain stupid.