Narita Airport dispute
As demands on Haneda Airport increased, New Tokyo International Airport (Narita Airport) was designed to solve the lack of airport capacity in the Tokyo metropolitan area. The Cabinet decided the location of the airport in 1966, and this decision was soon followed by the establishment of the New Tokyo International Airport Authority (commonly called the Narita Airport Authority or NAA). The decision set off a wave of protests by residents (mainly farmers) in and around the airport site. Unfortunately, ultra-leftist groups joined forces with local residents and turned the new airport into a political issue. The anti-airport groups resorted to force in a fierce and violent campaign. The government and NAA tried to expropriate the site by eminent domain, which escalated the confrontation between the two sides. In 1978, just before the scheduled opening of the airport, ultra-leftists stormed into the airport compound, occupying and damaging the air traffic control room. This incident forced the authorities to postpone the opening of the airport by more than a month. In recent years, efforts by concerned parties and local residents have generated momentum for peaceful negotiations, which should be noted as a positive step forward. Still, it remains unknown when Narita Airport will go into a full-fledged operation using of parallel runways.
Improvement of New Tokyo International Airport: Completion of the parallel runways
It is astonishing that New Tokyo International Airport (Narita Airport), which handles 120,000 departures/landings and 25 million passengers each year, has only one runway. At the initial stage of planning, Narita Airport was envisaged as a mega-airport with 4 parallel runways. The plan was later revised to a more standard airport with two parallel runways and a crosswind one. The basic plan for the airport has remained unchanged since construction commenced in 1976. Unfortunately, the use of the two parallel runways is not expected to materialize in the foreseeable future. The second passenger terminal opened in 1992, solving the problem of terminal congestion that attracted widespread criticism in the past. To expand the airport capacity, already reaching its maximum, the only fundamental solution is to make the parallel runways operational. This is the top priority of Japanese aviation policies.
