Narita International Airport
Narita International Airport is the second-busiest airport in Japan and one of the busiest airports in the world. Every year more than 35 million people fly through Narita International Airport. It is one of the busiest air transportation hubs in Asia, and it is a frequent spot for passengers to change planes when arriving from Europe or the United States before they head on to other destinations in Asia.
The majority of international travelers arriving in Japan will arrive at Narita International Airport. It is located about 35 miles outside of downtown Japan. Passengers can quickly get from the airport to Tokyo via numerous transportation options, including trains, buses, taxis, and limousines.
As well as its robust role as one of the busiest airports for passengers, Narita International Airport is the ninth-largest hub for air cargo in the world. It handles more air freight than any other airport in Japan.
History of Narita Airport
Up until the 1960s, the only airport in Tokyo was Haneda International Airport. Haneda is located on Tokyo Bay, which means that it did not have room for expansion. This meant that the Japanese government had to start looking for a new location to handle the excess air traffic that was overwhelming Haneda International Airport at the time.
The Japanese government began to make plans in 1962 for a new airport to handle the bulk of the international air traffic that was overwhelming Haneda International Airport. Plans were completed by 1966, and the land was surveyed starting in 1967. However, numerous protest groups opposed the construction of the new airport, citing the fact that it was mainly being constructed to benefit foreign interests. Hundreds of people were arrested while protesting the construction of what would become known as Tokyo Narita International Airport.
Narita International Airport was originally slated to be completed by 1971, but the protests severely delayed the construction process. The first terminal at the airport did not complete construction until 1972. The runways would take several more years to construct. The protesters occupied the land, and it would take several years of legal battles to finally overcome the protestors.
When the protests were finally quashed, the construction of the airport was completed in 1978. Narita International Airport was originally scheduled to open its doors on March 30, 1978. However, the protestors were not finished. Four days before the airport was to open, on March 26, 1978, a violent protest organization broke into the airport, throwing Molotov cocktails and completely destroying one of the control towers. This attack did more than a half million dollars’ worth of damage and delayed the opening of the airport an additional two months.
Narita International Airport finally opened its doors on May 20, 1978 under the highest security. 14,000 policemen were on hand to control the 6,000 protestors that showed up to protest the opening of the airport.
The protests of the airport forced the original five planned runways and two terminals to be scaled down to three runways and a single terminal. This meant that Narita International Airport was being forced into using more than its capacity from the very start. In the 1990s, two more runways and a new terminal were planned to help handle the heavy load of air traffic at the airport. The new terminal was completed in 1992 and a new runway was completed in 2002. Plans are currently underway to build another runway.
The two terminals at Narita International Airport are both served by underground trains, and they also have a shuttle bus that runs between them. There is no way to walk between the two terminals.