Narita Airport launches extended second runway
NARITA, Chiba -- Narita Airport's extended second runway went into operation on Thursday, opening the path for an increase in large-aircraft traffic.
Previously, large aircraft arriving at Narita, which handles about half of Japan's international flights, were confined to the airport's 4,000-meter A runway. But an extension of the B runway from 2,180 meters to 2,500 meters now allows the second runway to be used by large aircraft such as 747 jumbos.
The extension comes in the wake of controversy over Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister Seiji Maehara's recent suggestion of turning Tokyo's Haneda Airport into a hub. With the longer runway, the yearly number of takeoffs and landings is expected to increase from the current 200,000 to 220,000 by March and boost usage of Narita Airport.
The first aircraft to take off from the extended runway was a chartered Japan Airlines 747-400 bound for Hakodate in Hokkaido. The jumbo, carrying 449 passengers, departed shortly after 7 a.m. following a commemorative event at the boarding gate.
Provisional use of the B runway began in April 2002. The runway had mainly handled international flights to nearby destinations together with domestic flights that used small- or medium-sized aircraft. Extension of the runway began in September 2006. Due to resistance from owners of farmland to the south of the airport, initial plans to extend the runway to the south were abandoned, and a 320-meter extension was instead made to the north.
(Mainichi Japan) October 22, 2009
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Friday, Oct. 23, 2009
Runway extension at Narita finally opens
NARITA, Chiba Pref. (Kyodo) Narita International Airport, the country's main international gateway, opened the long-awaited extension to its second runway Thursday.
With Runway B extended to 2,500 meters from 2,180 meters, Narita International Airport Corp., which runs the airport, hopes to boost traffic from March by 20,000 flight slots from the current 200,000.
All wide-bodied aircraft other than the heavyweight Airbus A380 can now land on the newly extended runway and longer-range flights to the U.S. West Coast, Moscow and other destinations can depart from it, it said.
After Narita International Airport President Kosaburo Morinaka and passengers cut a ribbon in front of boarding gate A, a chartered Japan Airlines Corp. Boeing 747 jumbo became the first aircraft to use the extended runway when it took off shortly past 7 a.m. for Hakodate, Hokkaido, on a commemorative flight .
"We really wanted to board the first jumbo jet to take off from Runway B," said Masato Kato, a 49-year-old self-employed man who joined the tour from Tokyo with his 10-year-old son.
People on both sides of the decades-old controversy over the airport's construction gathered near the runway, including landowners living in small settlements surrounded by airport facilities, airport company officials and locally elected Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Hajime Yatagawa.
The construction of Narita's second runway, which lies parallel to 4,000-meter-long Runway A, had been delayed from 1974 due to strong opposition from many who jointly own land and still refuse to sell to the airport operator.
Opening in 1978 some 65 km east of central Tokyo in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, the airport's status as Tokyo's main international hub has been threatened recently by plans to accommodate more international flights at Haneda airport, which basically takes up an ever-expanding artificial island in Tokyo Bay. Haneda is currently used chiefly for domestic flights.
Even after the 2,180-meter section of Runway B became operational in 2002 — 800 meters north of its originally planned location — negotiations with landowners made little headway.
The transport ministry therefore decided to extend the runway at the other end, clearing the way for construction to begin in September 2006.
The extension had been expected to open next March.
