Narita Airport

Narita International Airport (成田国際空港) is one of two major international airports located in Tokyo, Japan, sitting in Narita, Chiba, Japan. About 60 KM from Downtown Tokyo, it is the secondary airport in Tokyo to Tokyo International Airport in Ota. The original name of Narita was New Tokyo International Airport until 2004 when the name was changed.

Narita International Airport is responsible for the majority of the international passenger traffic that goes through Japan, with major connections between the Americas and most other parts of Asia. The second busiest airport in Japan, and the busiest air freight hub in Japan, it is the fifth busiest such hub in the world. It is a hub for Japan Airlines, Nippon Airways, and Northwest Airlines.

History

The development and expansion of Narita Airport was a highly contentious issue between the government and the Japanese populous when it was first proposed in the 1960s. The severe concerns by citizens over the expropriation of Japanese land to build the airport – an issue that resonate strongly within a culture with strong land ownership issues in its heritage – caused the building of later airports in Osaka and Nagoya to be undertaken on reclaimed land offshore.

The planning for Narita was started in 1962 as the Japanese government looked for a way to move international flights away from Haneda which was becoming overworked and overcrowded. A shortage of land due to postwar growth in Tokyo made it hard to find a location, and so finally the rural area of Chiba was selected where the villages of Sanrizuka and Shibayama were located, largely owned by the Imperial Household to ease tensions. The plans went public in 1966 and the locals were largely unwilling to give up their land. Because of ongoing protests that saw hundreds arrested and policemen killed in rioting, the airports proposed completion date of 1971 was never hit. The first terminal was finally finished in 1972 and the entire airport was finally finished and opened on May 20, 1978 after innumerable delays. Due to the decade of protests however, the airport was opened under incredibly heavy security with extra security walls, riot police and higher than normal security precautions at the gates.

Incidents

Well known incidents at Narita Airport include the 1985 bombing of Air India flight 182, which originated out of Narita from luggage boarded in Vancouver International Airport. Another bombing occurred in 1994 on Philippine Airlines Flight 434 en route to Narita from Cebu.

Terminals

Narita Airport has two terminals with an underground train station connecting them as well as shuttle buses. Airlines that serve each terminal include the following:

Terminal 1

• Aeroflot
• Aeromexico
• Aircalin
• Air France
• Alitalia
• British Airways
• Continental Airlines
• Delta Airlines
• KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
• Korean Air
• Northwest Airlines
• Virgin Atlantic
• Air Canada
• Air China
• Nippon Airways
• Asiana Airlines
• Austrian Airlines
• EVA Air
• Jet Airways
• Lufthansa
• MIAT Mongolian Airlines
• Scandinavian Airlines System
• Singapore Airlines
• Swiss International Airlines
• Thai Airways International
• Turkish Airlines
• United Airlines
• Uzbekistan Airways
• Vladivostok Air

Terminal 2

• Air India
• Air New Zealand
• Air Niugini
• Air Pacific
• Air Tahiti Nui
• American Airlines
• Cathay Pacific
• China Airlines
• China Eastern Airlines
• China Southern Airlines
• EgyptAir
• Finnair
• Garuda Indonesia
• Iberia Airlines
• Iran Air
• Japan Airlines
• Malaysian Airlines
• Pakistan International Airlines
• Philippine Airlines
• Qantas
• Sri Lankan Airlines
• Vietnam Airlines

Cargo Airlines

• Aeroflot Cargo
• Air France Cargo
• Air Hong Kong
• ANA and JP Express
• Euro Cargo Air
• FedEx Express
• KLM Cargo
• Korean Air Cargo
• Lufthansa Cargo
• Nippon Cargo Airlines
• Northwest Cargo
• Polar Air Cargo
• Singapore Airlines Cargo
• United Parcel Service

External Links

• Narita Airport Official Homepage (English)