Evolution of metropolitan airports in Japan

In Japan, the advent of air transport and rapid urbanisation had developed simultaneously at both Tokyo and Osaka in the 1960s. This made it difficult to plan proactively and, by the time the search for the location of a secondary airport had begun, the original airports, Haneda and Itami, were exasperated with the noise issue. As a consequence the location of the secondary airports, Narita and Kansai respectively, had to be situated far from the city centre. Nevertheless, Narita Airport has long suffered resistance from local residents and environmental groups. In Osaka, Kansai Airport had to be built by reclaiming an island in the bay area that inevitably led to high capital expenditure. Historical path dependence of airport development in large metropolitan area caused significant difficulty in capacity expansion. Simultaneous planning of airport infrastructure and air-space development through KAIZEN ? continuous improvement of existing system ? enabled step-by-step increase in landing slots at Haneda Airport and Narita Airport, although it has taken time. Institutional integration of Itami Airport and Kansai Airport in 2012 is also an important step in pooling resources of the two airports for financial stabilization and shifting towards private sector management to give more room for strategic airport operation. Stimulating local groups by competitive force among airports would potentially serve as catalyst to mobilize interests of various stakeholders leading to capacity increase. Improving access to/from airport and multi-modal planning are some of the remaining issues to be addressed.

Expanding Airport Capacity in Large Urban Areas

Evolution of metropolitan airports in Japan

airport development in Tokyo and Osaka