Nikkei Excerpt- Oct. 23, 2009

Will it be enough to stop the HND tsunami?

I hope not!

I wonder if you can see any protest signs from the departure end of the extension.

Is this really long enough for fully loaded takeoffs? Here's a quote someone put on airliners.net for a 747, I assume MTOW means "maximum take-off weight."

Apparently not, then. since 2500m is roughly 8200 ft.

But I believe that the additional runway length allows for 747 to land - and that's new. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

All in all, it's a big step down from the original airport plans which included two runways of 4,000m and one of 3,200m. (Per Wikipedia)

True, but the third one was going to cross the other two, so it isn't as useful from a capacity maximization perspective. The extension is big news in that regard.

Why can't they just make Narita into Tokyo's Gatwick and be done with it?

As part of the industry's restructuring (read JL's)both NH and JL will be allowed to run all their international flights from HND. Thus allowing them to compete again for all the transit traffic that the the folks at ICN are siphoning away.

Either KIX or NGO or even both would require a Shinkansen station to make Japan as a whole competetive against ICN and later Chinese airports.

Osaka governor proposed a maglev connecting KIX with Osaka downtown. That went over like a lead balloon with the new transport minister. Now, Osaka pref. is saying that they aren't going to give any money to KIX starting next year, since HND is slated to become the 24-hour hub in Japan.

Just beyond the taxi way near Terminal 2, there is a house with airport fence all around and a driveway access to what looks to be highway tunnel. Anybody knows the story behind this house?

Haven't been to ICN but been on the PVG Maglev a few times. I wouldn't call the PVG Maglev anything a curiosity in the current stage. At the end of the line is a fairly new building. In order to extend the line the government will have to buy out everybody and tear the building down. Even Subway Line 2 is just next door, one would have to stick your arm in the ticket window with ten other people and hope to get a ticket. Whatever time I saved being on the Maglev I wasted on the street trying to flag down a taxi with local ladies just one step ahead of me.

Even that, I still prefer the trains than being on the highway traveling 100kph behind flatbed truck loads of construction material with no strap-down.

There isn't any fast train station at ICN. That train into town (is it completed yet?) mostly just wanders in, not fast at all. What makes ICN a great transit airport are the competitive fares, is the Japanese government willing to tolerate those?

After a quick search, I found a blog by a protester. This has some pictures. What you saw was in the pictures?

http://ameblo.jp/pyl-blog/archive1-200801.html

On Wikipedia, there is no English article but Japanese ones.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%88%...95%8F%E9%A1%8C (成田空港問題）
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9B%...B0%8F%E5%B1%8B　　（団結小屋）

I think that when people are speaking of "transit passengers" in this thread, they're referring specifically to those going to places other than KIX or NRT in Japan. If, say, you're going to and from Hiroshima, Fukuoka, or Sapporo to the US, it's probably easier to connect in ICN than it is in NRT. If you use NRT, it's really a HND/NRT connection with a long bus or train ride between the airports.

High-speed trains to ICN, PVG, or elsewhere aren't relevant to this particular conversation. If for example NGO or KIX was on a Shinkansen line, then there would be a much larger catchment area where going via train to those airports for an int'l departure would be convenient.

Speaking of which, if HND were to become the predominant int'l hub airport in Tokyo, would they build a non-stop rail line between it and Tokyo Station? Even though it takes almost an hour, the N'EX is convenient for Narita passengers arriving via Shinkansen from either direction.