Tokyo International Airport – Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo International Airport (IATA: HND, ICAO: RJTT), located in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, is one of the two primary airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area. It is commonly known as Haneda Airport to differentiate it from Narita International Airport, which was called “New Tokyo International Airport” until 2004. Narita handles most international flights to the region; Haneda’s three international services are “city center to city center” to Gimpo International Airport in Seoul, South Korea, Hongqiao International Airport in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China, and Hong Kong, PRC.

Haneda is Japan’s busiest airport and consistently ranks among the world’s busiest passenger airports (ranking fourth in 2006), even though nearly all of its flights are to destinations within Japan. By passenger throughput, Haneda is the busiest airport in Asia, handling 65.3 million passengers in 2006.

History

International era

Haneda Airfield first opened in 1931 on a small piece of bayfront land at the south end of today’s airport complex. It was Japan’s largest civil airport at the time it was constructed, and took over from the army air base at Tachikawa as the main operating base of Japan Air Transport, then the country’s flag carrier. During the 1930s, Haneda handled flights to destinations in Japan, Korea and Manchuria.

In 1945, U.S. occupation forces took over the airport and renamed it Haneda Army Air Base. The Army evicted many nearby residents to make room for various construction projects. As a military base, Haneda received its first international flights in 1947 when Northwest Orient Airlines (now Northwest Airlines) began scheduled service to the United States, China, South Korea, and the Philippines. Japan Airlines began its first domestic operations from Haneda in 1951. The U.S. military gave part of the base back to Japan in 1952; this portion became known as Tokyo International Airport. The rest of the base was returned to Japan in 1958.

European carriers began service to Haneda in the 1950s, with BOAC operating de Havilland Comet flights to London via the southern route in 1952, and SAS operating DC-7 flights to Copenhagen via Anchorage beginning in 1957. JAL and Aeroflot began cooperative service from Haneda to Moscow in 1967. Other airlines at Haneda during this period included Pan Am, Sabena, Swissair, Canadian Pacific Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways and Air Siam. Both Pan Am and Northwest Orient used Haneda as an Asian regional hub.

Haneda’s instrument landing system became operational in 1961. The Tokyo Monorail began service between Haneda and central Tokyo in 1964, in time for the Tokyo Olympics. During 1964, Japan also lifted travel restrictions on its citizens, causing passenger traffic at the airport to swell. A new runway and international terminal were completed in 1970, but demand continued to outpace expansion.

Domestic era

While most international flights moved from Haneda to Narita in 1978, airlines based on Taiwan continued to use Haneda Airport for many years due to the ongoing political conflict between the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China. China Airlines served Taipei and Honolulu from Haneda; Taiwan’s second major airline, EVA Air, joined CAL at Haneda in 1989.

All Taiwan flights were moved to Narita in 2002, and Haneda-Honolulu services ceased. In 2003, JAL, ANA, KAL and Asiana began service to Gimpo Airport near Seoul, providing a “scheduled charter” city-to-city service.

In October 2006, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao reached an informal agreement to launch bilateral talks regarding an additional city-to-city service between Haneda and Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport. On 25 June 2007, the two governments concluded an agreement allowing for the Haneda-Hongqiao service to commence from October 2007.

In June 2007 Haneda gained the right to host international flights that depart between 8:30 PM and 11:00 PM and arrive between 6 AM and 8:30 AM. The airport allows departures and arrivals between 11 PM and 6 AM.

Future development

A fourth runway is presently under construction to the south of the existing airfield, and is planned to be completed by 2010. This runway is expected to increase Haneda’s operational capacity from 285,000 movements to 407,000 movements per year, permitting increased frequencies on existing routes, as well as routes to new destinations.

Upon completion of the fourth runway, the Ministry of Transport plans to allocate a number of the newly available landing slots to international flights of 1,947 km (1,210 mi) or less (the distance to Ishigaki, the longest domestic flight operating from Haneda). The destinations within this range include all of Korea, parts of eastern and northern China (including Shanghai, Qingdao, Dalian and Harbin, but excluding Beijing) and parts of the Russian Far East (including Vladivostok and Sakhalin).

A third terminal for international flights is planned for completion in December 2009. The cost to construct the five-story terminal building and attached 2,300-car parking deck will be covered by a Private Finance Initiative process, revenues from duty-free concessions and a facility use charge of ¥2,000 per passenger. Both the Tokyo Monorail and the Keikyū Airport Line will be routed to stop at the new terminal, and an international air cargo facility will also be constructed nearby.

Recent issues

On May 20, 2008, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced the policy to accelerate the international flight use of Haneda Airport. Haneda will offer early-morning and late-night takeoffs and landings, enabling the airport to handle 60,000 overseas flights a year.

Prior to this announcement, JAL has already announced to restructure the international operations in preparation for the business opportunity that will arise in 2010. ANA has a plan to prepare LCC (Low-cost carrier) flying into Haneda after Haneda’s fourth runway opens in October 2010.

Incidents and accidents

• July 30, 1971: All Nippon Airways Flight 58, while on a route from Chitose to Tokyo Haneda, collided with a fighter plane. All of the people on board died.
• February 9, 1982: Japan Airlines Flight 350 crashed near the airport as a result of deliberate action by the pilot. 24 of 174 passengers and crew died.
• August 12, 1985: Japan Airlines Flight 123, bound for Osaka International Airport, Itami/Toyonaka, lost control and crashed into a mountain after takeoff from Haneda; it is the single-aircraft disaster with the highest death toll in history, with 520 of 524 dead.
• July 23, 1999: All Nippon Airways Flight 61 was hijacked shortly after takeoff. The hijacker killed the pilot before he was subdued; the aircraft landed safely.
• January 31, 2001: Japan Airlines Flight 907, bound for Naha International Airport, nearly collided with another Japan Airlines aircraft. The Boeing 747 for Flight 907 suddenly dived and avoided a DC-10. See: 2001 Japan Airlines mid-air incident.

Terminals, Airlines and Destinations

Haneda Airport has three terminals. The main terminals, 1 and 2, are connected by an underground walkway; a free shuttle bus runs between the main terminals and the smaller International Terminal every five minutes.

Haneda Airport is open 24 hours. The two main passenger terminals are only open from 5 AM to 11:30 PM. The terminals may be extended to 24-hour operation due to StarFlyer’s late-night and early-morning service between Haneda and Kitakyushu, which began in March 2006.

All three terminals are managed by Japan Airport Terminal Co., Ltd., a private company. The rest of the airport is managed by the government.

Terminal 1

Terminal 1, called “Big Bird,” opened in 1993, replacing the smaller 1970 terminal complex. The linear building features a six-story restaurant and shopping area in its center section and a large rooftop observation deck.

• Japan Airlines (Akita, Amami Oshima, Aomori, Asahikawa, Fukuoka, Hakodate, Hiroshima, Izumo, Kagoshima, Kita-kyushu, Kobe, Kochi, Komatsu, Kumamoto, Kushiro, Matsuyama, Misawa, Miyazaki, Nagasaki, Naha, Nanki-Shirahama, Oita, Okayama, Osaka-Itami, Osaka-Kansai, Ozora (Memanbetsu), Sapporo-Chitose, Takamatsu, Tokachi-Obihiro, Tokushima, Yamagata, Yamaguchiube)
• Japan Transocean Air (Ishigaki, Kumejima, Miyako, Naha)
• Skymark Airlines (Fukuoka, Kobe, Naha, Sapporo-Chitose)
• StarFlyer (Kitakyushu, Osaka-Kansai)

Terminal 2

Terminal 2 opened on December 1, 2004. It features an open-air rooftop restaurant, a six-story “marketplace” area with restaurants and shops, and the 387-room Haneda Excel Tokyu Hotel.

The construction of Terminal 2 was financed by levying a ¥100 passenger service facility charge on tickets, the first domestic PSFC in Japan.

• Hokkaido International Airlines (Asahikawa, Hakodate, Memanbetsu, Sapporo Chitose)
• All Nippon Airways (Akita, Fukuoka, Hachijojima, Hakodate, Hiroshima, Ishigaki, Iwami, Kagoshima, Kobe, Kochi, Komatsu, Kumamoto, Kushiro, Matsuyama, Miyazaki, Monbetsu, Nagasaki, Naha, Nemuro-Nakashibetsu, Noto, Odate, Okayama, Oita, Osaka-Itami, Osaka-Kansai, Oshima, Saga, Sapporo-Chitose, Shonai, Takamatsu, Tottori, Toyama, Wakkanai, Yonago)
• Skynet Asia Airways (Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Miyazaki, Nagasaki)

International Terminal

Haneda’s international terminal currently handles charter flights, as scheduled international flights are generally required to use Narita Airport. The main international flights during the day are “scheduled charter” flights to and from Seoul Gimpo Airport, on four airlines with two daily flights each, and Shanghai Hongqiao Airport, on four airlines with one daily flight each.[11] The terminal also handles other charter flights at late night and early morning hours when Narita Airport is closed. The Governments of both Japan and China are discussing opening a new Haneda-Beijing Nanyuan Airport route before the 2008 Olympics due to proximity to cities.

• All Nippon Airways (Hong Kong, Seoul-Gimpo, Shanghai-Hongqiao)
• Asiana Airlines (Seoul-Gimpo)
• Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong)
• China Eastern Airlines (Shanghai-Hongqiao)
• Japan Airlines (Hong Kong , Seoul-Gimpo, Shanghai-Hongqiao)
• Korean Air (Seoul-Gimpo)
• Shanghai Airlines (Shanghai-Hongqiao)

Cargo facilities

Haneda is the third-largest air cargo hub in Japan after Narita and Kansai. The airport property is adjacent to the Tokyo Freight Terminal Station, the main rail freight yard serving central Tokyo.

Scheduled cargo routes from Haneda include:

• All Nippon Airways (Osaka-Kansai, Saga, Sapporo-Chitose)
• Galaxy Airlines (Kitakyushu, Naha, Sapporo-Chitose)

Other facilities

Haneda Airport has a special VIP terminal and two parking spots for private aircraft. This area is often used by foreign heads of state visiting Japan, as well as by Japanese government aircraft carrying the Imperial family, the Prime Minister or other officials. (Narita is also regularly used for such flights despite its much greater distance from central Tokyo.) The Tokyo Metropolitan Police have historically conducted heightened security measures, including ID checks of visibly foreign passengers, during times when the airport is being used for state visits. Japan Airlines operates the Safety Promotion Center at the periphery of the airport. The Japan Coast Guard has a base at Haneda which is used by emergency-response units.

Ground Transportation

Rail

Haneda Airport is served by the Keihin Kyuko Railway (Keikyū) and Tokyo Monorail. The monorail has two stations, one in each terminal; Keikyū operates a single station between the terminals.

Keikyū offers trains to Shinagawa Station (19 min., ¥400) and Yokohama Station (27 min., ¥470), and through service to the Toei Asakusa Line, which makes several stops in eastern Tokyo. Some Keikyū trains also run through to the Keisei Oshiage Line and Keisei Main Line, making it possible to reach Narita International Airport by train. Although a few direct trains run in the morning, a transfer along the Keisei Line is generally necessary to reach Narita. The train ride to Narita takes about 2 hours and costs ¥1,560.

Tokyo Monorail offers trains to Hamamatsuchō Station (¥470), where passengers can connect to the Yamanote Line to reach other points in Tokyo. Express trains make the nonstop run from Haneda Airport to Hamamatsuchō in 16 minutes. Hamamatsuchō Station is also located adjacent to the Toei Oedo Line Daimon station.

Other Information

Tokyo International Airport

• Airport type: Public
• Operator: Tokyo Aviation Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (airfield); Japan Airport Terminal Co., Ltd. (terminals)
• Location: Ōta, Tokyo, Japan
• Elevation AMSL: 35 ft / 11 m

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