Narita airport marks 10 years since opening of 2nd runway
Ten years have passed since Narita International Airport, Japan's main international gateway, opened its long sought-after second runway, after operating on a single runway for nearly a quarter century.
The airport operator is hoping that this runway, fit for takeoffs and landings of smaller aircraft of budget airlines, and the planned addition of a dedicated terminal for such carriers, will be a key in reinforcing its position in the face of competition from other airports in Asia's aviation market.
But the airport has yet to resolve a long-standing dispute with owners of adjacent land that has troubled its construction and subsequent expansion plans. Negotiators for the airport operator and for the landowners do not appear to know when they can reach agreement.
Since its opening in 1978, Narita airport, then called New Tokyo International Airport, relied solely on a single 4,000-meter runway for accommodating all passenger and cargo flights.
On April 18, 2002, the airport, serving the greater Tokyo region, finally opened its second runway for "provisional" use with a 2,180-meter stretch.
It was shorter in length than the original design in order to accommodate land owners opposed to the airport with homes located around 400 meters from the southern end of the strip.
The second runway, technically called Runway B, was fully extended to 2,500 meters in 2009 in line with the initial plan but drawn out northward instead.
Narita has been known as a hub airport serving a large number of wide-body aircraft such as the Boeing 777 and Airbus 380, which typically need the longer 4,000-meter Runway A for takeoffs when fully loaded with fuel.
The shorter Runway B is considered a better fit for the fleets of budget airlines, which generally fly smaller planes that can make more efficient use of the 2,500-meter path for both takeoffs and landings.
Kazuyuki Iwakata, president of AirAsia Japan Co., recently expressed enthusiasm about the potentials of Runway B ahead of the low-cost carrier's scheduled inauguration of flights to and from Narita in August.
"It will be the main runway for LCCs and will perhaps help create a new era for Narita," he said.
The airport operator Narita International Airport Corp. is planning to build a passenger terminal dedicated to LCCs near Runway B and is intent on providing enhanced support to those carriers by improving taxiways.
Under the government's initial plan, three runways were planned for the airport. In the face of violent opposition from local residents and famers, the central government could not acquire land as planned, forcing it to open with a single runway in May 1978.
The second runway was timed to open for provisional use ahead of soccer's 2002 World Cup, jointly hosted by Japan and South Korea, and helped expand the capacity of Narita.
Annual aircraft slots at Narita grew from a maximum 135,000 during the single-runway period to 200,000 under the provisional operation phase and to 250,000 now.
The plot of land initially planned for the Runway B extension still accommodates homes and farmland of owners who refused to sell properties. A 65-year-old farmer said they cannot even hear each other in conversation near their homes, where planes fly just over 40 meters above their heads.
"If they care about people who live here, it would have been different from what we have now here," said the man, expressing distrust of the airport operator.
With no solution in sight for the land issue, a local official concurred. The airport project "may be moving forward toward completion in terms of its utility, but lacks soul."
An NAA official said, "With some land yet to be acquired, we cannot say the airport is completed. We would like to continue dialogue" with stakeholders.
Copyright 2012 Kyodo News ServiceAll Rights Reserved
