FOCUS: Expectations sky-high for new int'l flights from Haneda airport+

TOKYO, Oct. 9 Kyodo - Japanese airlines and other industries are abuzz with excitement over the potential impact of regular international flights from Tokyo's Haneda airport when a new, spacious international terminal and fourth runway are opened on
Oct. 21.

''This will provide a very good business opportunity for the airlines of Japan,
and it will also provide extra opportunities for other foreign airlines notably
from Asia, which can benefit from the high-yield traffic that Haneda will
generate,'' said Geoffrey Tudor, a principal analyst at Japan Aviation
Management Research.
Up until now, Haneda airport, despite its close proximity to central Tokyo,
mainly served as a domestic airport and operated only short-distance chartered
international flights to South Korea, China and Hong Kong.
Starting Oct. 31, Haneda airport, officially known as Tokyo International
Airport, will be connected to 49 domestic cities and 15 cities that include New
York, San Francisco, Honolulu, Paris, and popular Southeast Asian holiday
destinations such as Bangkok, Taipei, Singapore and Kota Kinabalu.
Another plus, Tudor said, is improved connections between domestic and
international flights, which makes it easier for people coming from other
prefectures to fly overseas.
Yoichi Hirai, vice president of corporate planning of Tokyo International Air
Terminal Corp., said, ''Expectations for Haneda's international flights are
considerably high. Now, businessmen can catch evening flights even after work,
which was not possible if they were to fly from Narita.''
The airport is expected to draw 7 million users per year and 30,000 annual
takeoff and landing slots for daytime international flights from this month,
which will be boosted to 60,000 by fiscal 2013, and eventually up to 90,000
slots, Hirai said.
So far, about 20 airlines plan to fly to and from Haneda. They include Japan
Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Thai Airways, Taiwan-based Eva Airways, Malaysian
Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and
Hawaiian Airlines.
The new terminal for the airport's regular international flights will operate
round the clock and begin business Oct. 21. With a total floor space of some
160,000 square meters, it is a five-story building with 105 shops and
restaurants, a section with scenery recreating the Edo period (1603-1868) to
reflect Japanese culture, and a planetarium.
Government data shows that Haneda's fourth runway will boost capacity from
303,000 arrival and departure slots a year now to 447,000 by fiscal 2013.
Japanese travel agencies are ecstatic over the first substantial increase in
international flights since the 1978 opening of Narita international airport,
the recognized gateway of Japan, which is about an hour bus or trade ride to
Tokyo. Haneda can now be accessed in as fast as 13 minutes from central Tokyo
thanks to rapid trains of Keihin Electric Express Railway Co., or Keikyu, and
Tokyo Monorail Co.
JTB Corp. said it is offering package tours to 22 overseas cities that will
leave from the airport between October and January, and allow customers to fly
between Haneda and other domestic airports for 1,000 yen per round trip.
Railways such as Keikyu and East Japan Railway Co. offer tourist information
booths at their stations for the airport's international terminal building,
with staff skilled in English, Chinese and Korean, the languages of many of
Japan's visitors.
But Haneda still faces hurdles to achieving former transport minister Seiji
Maehara's goal of making it a 24-hour international hub, with Tudor citing
''infrastructural problems'' such as the limited capacity of Haneda in terms of
terminal and aircraft parking space to deal with the future goal of 90,000
arrival and departure slots a year.
Tudor said even with the 90,000 daytime slots, it is still less than half of
Narita's capacity of about 220,000 annual slots.
He noted that Haneda airport also may ''not be enough to compete effectively''
with South Korea's Incheon International Airport which in recent years has been
increasingly used by Japanese travelers flying from provincial airports in
Japan to go abroad instead of from Narita airport. Incheon is connected to the
airports of 124 cities, while Narita is linked to nearly 100 cities.
Critics say Haneda airport also has to improve slots in favor of Europe and
U.S.-based carriers as long-haul flights to the United States and Europe are
restricted in the 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. slot.
Otto Benz, general manager for Japan at Lufthansa German Airlines, said,
''European airlines cannot benefit from this hub situation or this network
because of the time slots which were awarded to us,'' and called for ''fair and
equal treatment with other destinations to be served by Haneda.''
Time slots for flights between Tokyo and Asia are between 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Benz said it is ''not commercially feasible for European carriers to use Haneda
in this time window since this would mean that in order for passengers to
depart with Lufthansa early in the morning, they have to come to Haneda by 6
a.m. or in case of package tour passengers even much earlier, which is
impossible for those flying to Tokyo from other prefectures.''
Haneda also has to face Narita airport's management, which is wary of Haneda's
increased presence in the global aviation scene especially in view of Maehara's
controversial remark last year to make it an Asian hub, in a break from the
long-held policy of routing Tokyo-bound international flights to Narita
airport.
One of the recent good signs for Narita airport is the launch in July of a new
high-speed railway line, Narita Sky Access, linking central Tokyo to Narita in
just 30-plus minutes, allaying concerns that it was too far and inconvenient.
Hirai believes the two Tokyo airports can coexist, saying, ''I don't think it's
the case that Haneda will increasingly grab international flights away from
Narita...rather, Haneda can supplement Narita, which cannot fly during the
night and early morning.''
==Kyodo