Fourth runway and the new international terminal building of Tokyo International Airport at Haneda open

The fourth runway and the new international terminal building of Tokyo International Airport at Haneda were opened on Oct. 21 prior to the start of scheduled international flights on Oct. 31. The new D-runway was opened to air traffic at midnight and the international terminal was opened at 4 a.m. This puts an end to the division of roles between the two main airports in the Tokyo metropolitan area where Haneda was used primarily as a domestic airport and Narita was used for international flights. Scheduled flights connecting Haneda with cities in Europe, North America and Asia begin operations on Oct. 31 — for the first time in 32 years. A total of 46 international flights will use Haneda beginning on Nov.1.

The fourth D-runway was built on the southeastern side of the airport at a total cost of some 600 billion yen in a bid to reduce noise pollution in the densely populated residential area situated west of the airport. One-third of the section of the runway on the southwestern side is built on a bridge in order to avoid blocking the stream of the Tama River as it is close to the river mouth. Two of the four runways are perpendicular the two others — the first such system in Japan.