It took over the handling of international air traffic of the city Tokyo, Japan.
It is classified as First class airport (第一種空港) in Japan.
Narita airport serves as a hub to Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Northwest Airlines, and United Airlines
Due to land scarcity, the inital and ongoing development of Narita Airport has been the cause of great controversy. The Japanese government has offered to relocate home-owners in the surrounding regions however neighbours have threatened to burn down the new home of anybody who voluntarily move. These individuals also stage demonstrations regularly on the eastern edge of the airport and have gone so far as to hire people to storm into the airport control tower.
Arguments over slots and landing fees have plagued the busy airport. The airport is expensive to access because so many airlines want to use it, therefore the Japanese aviation authorities have limited the number of flights each airline can operate from this airport.
Recently, a new runway was added to the eastern edge of the airport to accommodate the increased visitors due to the Football World Cup 2002 events shared between Japan and South Korea. Residents in surrounding regions were compensated for the increased noise-pollution with home upgrades/soundproofing by the Japanese government.
Recently, Tokyo International Airport (also known as Haneda airport) was allowed to have other international flights within Asia, as well as to Hawaii, which should help alleviate Narita's problems with capacity. There has been some discussion about exchanging roles between Narita airport and Haneda to accommodate Tokyo residents as Narita is in Chiba prefecture and a typical train ride from even the eastern parts of Tokyo on an express train take roughly 1 hour.
On June 22, 1985, a piece of luggage that was checked into Vancouver International Airport in Vancouver, British Columbia was in transit to an Air India flight in New Tokyo International Airport when it exploded, killing two baggage handlers. 55 minutes later, a piece of luggage that also originated from Vancouver on Air India Flight 182 would explode, killing all of the passengers on the flight.
On December 11, 1994, Philippine Airlines Flight 434 was flying on its second leg of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport - Mactan-Cebu International Airport - New Tokyo International Airport route when a bomb on board exploded, killing a passenger. The airliner was able to make an emergency landing. Authorities later found out that Ramzi Yousef planted the bomb on the airliner to test the bomb for his Project Bojinka plot. His project was discovered in Manila after an apartment fire on the night of January 5 and the morning of January 6, 1995.
If Project Bojinka had not been discovered after a fire in Manila, Philippines, one or more aircraft owned by a U.S carrier/s flying to this airport would have blown up over the Pacific Ocean on January 21, 1995 as part of the project's first phase.
There are two main train lines connecting Narita airport to Tokyo:
- Keisei line
- JR Narita line
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Terminal 1
Terminal 2
See also: Airport, Transportation of Japan, Tokyo International Airport
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