AlwaysAisle

Currently NRT does not have arrival and departure of scheduled flights between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Airport itself is open 24 hrs. There are all those ground activities all night long, also arrival and departure flights are accepted in emergency situation and other unforeseen situations.

Japanese government and Narita Airport Authority is planning to have a meeting with local Narita residents about reducing no arrival/departure time to 1 a.m. to 5 a.m.

Again, this seems to be part of 2020 Tokyo Olympic to increase flight traffic at NRT. Sounds like “2020 Olympic” is magic word in Japan right now. Under the name of “2020 Olympic” budgets can be approved when it will not be approved any other time. People will agree with stuff under the name of “2020 Olympic” when any other time it will be absolute no.

So, next time you are in Japan simply say “2020 Olympic” and you will get away with everything.

Anyway, local residents of Narita sure do not want noisy jet engine above their head during middle of the night while sleep. However, local residents are also aware that they are dependent on the airport. More than 60% of jobs in Narita are airport related. Local residents of Narita are fully aware of Haneda vs. Narita situation and reduction of operation at NRT means loss of jobs for them.

With all these considered, it is unlikely that local residents will up front oppose reduction of no flight time at NRT. Question will be if no flight time is reduced at NRT, then will airport transportation change its operation schedule?

RichardInSF

I suspect that Narita is in a battle for its very existence and is going to have to be a lot more flexible to avoid losing virtually all of its business to Haneda.

evergrn

The bigger news lately is that they seem to be discussing the 3rd runway more seriously than ever before. Saw on news that they're discussing a 3rd runway of 3500m and/or extending Runway B to 3500m.

swy

What can a 3500m runway do for them that the current one can't?

jib71

It gives the airport a second runway that can handle the largest planes in less than optimal conditions.

evergrn

Runway B is currently only 2500m long. I'm not an expert on this by any stretch, but I would think 2500m is inadequate (or not enough safety margin) for quite a few aircrafts to take off, especially with full fuel in suboptimal conditions.

Also, I would think that having a third runway that runs in different direction provides more options in case of cross-winds to the airport which currently only has a pair of parallel runways.

5khours

I think 3500 meters means 747, 380, 340 in all conditions.

AlwaysAisle

Current NRT situation is likely…

Working against NRT:
Distance to central Tokyo. O/D passengers heading to Tokyo prefer HND over NRT.

Working in favor of NRT:
Tokyo does need two airports. HND alone cannot handle all passenger demand (domestic and international) and cargo demand for Kanto region.

mkjr

No chance that will happen. HND will need to expand a little bit (sarcasm) to have that happen.

mkjr

I have always been surprised that the really, depending on where one needs to go in HND, the time savings between HND and NRT are not that substantial...at least not IMO.

AlwaysAisle

It is true. Makuhari, one of the largest convention complexes in Japan is pretty much same distance from HND or NRT.

O Sora

Looks like the government and Chiba Prefecture have just agreed on all of the following three.

1 New runway of 3500m
2 Extention of Runway B to 3500m
3 To shorten the curfew by three hours

Olympics 2020 is surely a magic word.

5khours

I quite agree, but I think it's really the hassle factor and the high cost of a taxi/uber to NRT. I usually NEX to NRT which ends up taking about 1 and 40 minutes door to door. When I used to to drive to/from NRT I could routinely do it in under an hour. For HND I always user Uber/Taxi and it's usually 30 to 35 minutes door to door.

shuigao

I can't speak for business travelers, but from a tourists perspective (at least the forums that I frequent), the preference really lies on cost & schedule of the flight/carrier rather than any of the two airports' distances to Tokyo.

evergrn

For me, it will always be NRT>HND... until they build something like NEx to/from HND. Why?
1). For me, trips involving TYO are never business travel.
2). ... hence taxi's are not an option (not on my own dime).
3). ... and I have luggage.
4). ... and saving a little bit of travel time is not that critical.

Some of the places I head to the most from TYO:
- Ikebukuro: ~1hr from either HND (2 commuter trains) or NRT (Skyliner then short ride on Yamanote).
- Shinjuku: ~45min from HND (2 commuter trains), ~75min from NRT (direct via NEx).
- Musashi Kosugi: ~30min from HND (all commuter trains), ~75min from NRT (direct via NEx).

Even if I'm headed to Musashi Kosugi, I'd still rather fly into NRT. Direct train service in a comfortable express train beats having to battle through a transfer with luggage and the crowded Yokosuka line.