Construction projects at Japan's three largest international airports—Tokyo's Narita, Kansai in Osaka and Central Japan International in Nagoya, the country's newest airport—are major works in progress.
At Narita, which opened in 1978 and was known as New Tokyo International airport until 2004, the reconstruction of Terminal 1, which began in 1995, continues at a pace that will see its conclusion in early June 2006. At that time, the remaining sections of the project—the South Wing, with one floor below ground and five above, and Satellite 5. with four above-ground floors—will open for service.
Airport officials said a precise opening date would be announced about six months before the June target. They said the work is "intended to provide better services to passengers, improve safety and ease congestion" at Japan's largest airport, a major connection for traffic between Asia and the Americas.
The new facilities will more than double the terminal's floor space, and, with the addition of Satellite 5 to existing Satellites 1 through 4, there will be 37 fixed gates compared with 28 before the work began. One change passengers will notice is that applicable Star Alliance carriers—All Nippon Airways, United Airlines, Asian Airlines and Singapore Airlines—will use the South Wing and Satellite 5. Also, ANA's domestic service will move to the South Wing.
A main feature of the reconstruction includes an in-line baggage screening system with explosives detectors on the conveyor belt, "an innovation," officials said, "that will do away with the need for security fences around the checkin counters, thus easing congestion in the departure lobby." Another benefit of the work, officials continued, allows connections between international and domestic flights in the same terminal.
In conjunction with improved access to the airport, the Narita Rapid Railway, currently under construction and scheduled for completion in 2010, is being built to cut travel times between Tokyo and nearby cities to the airport to as little as 36 minutes. At present, it takes about one hour to reach Narita by rail from Tokyo, 40 miles away.
Meanwhile, construction work is ongoing at Kansai International, the airport built on two man-made islands in Osaka Bay, south of the city of Osaka.
The airport broke ground in October on phase-two construction of a second runway and related facilities. The runway will be 13,200 feet long when operational in 2007.
This project, was made possible with the completion of a second artificial island. It was created with landfill excavated from several nearby mountains and rests in water that is an average depth of more than 60 feet.
Ground has been broken for construction of the first phase of an underpass that will link both the connecting taxiway between the first and second islands, and the public road that traverses the first island. The underpass is scheduled for completion in summer 2006.
Future plans include construction of a new terminal building, an apron and a third runway, airport officials said. While Kansai strives to expand, it will have to deal with the advent of Kobe airport, which is expected to give Kansai stiff competition for domestic flights when it opens in 2007.
Japan's newest international airport, Central Japan International—commonly known as Centrair, which opened on Feb. 17
(Meetings Today, March 21), also is built on a man-made island. This one is in Ise Bay, 21 miles south of the city of Nagoya. Future plans include the option to extend the initial runway to 13,200 feet in length and build another one like it adjacent to it. Also planned is an airport access railway from central Nagoya, with a travel time of 30 minutes.