Society

Narita to close 1 runway as air travel demand plunges

Apr 11 (Japan Today) - The operator of Narita airport near Tokyo said Friday it will shut one of the two runways as air travel demand has collapsed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

From Sunday, one of the country's major international gateways will operate with only one runway as the number of departures and arrivals has nosedived to less than 20 percent of the around 3,600 per week in January, the operator said.

It is the first time for the airport, which opened in 1978, to close a runway due to the spread of an infectious disease. Runway B, which is 2,500 meters, will be shut until further notice, while 4,000-meter Runway A will stay open.

Under the state of emergency declared by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday, the airport operator said it will limit the number of on-site workers whilst improving work efficiency by closing the runway.

Meanwhile, Tokyo's Haneda airport will close its just-opened facility for international flights at Terminal 2 from Saturday as demand has dropped sharply, said the airport operator and All Nippon Airways Co, which uses the facility.

The facility at Terminal 2 opened on March 29 following renovation work that cost around 62 billion yen ($572 million). Until now, the terminal had been used solely for domestic flights.

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