Tokyo International Airport: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Tokyo International Airport (Japanese: 東京国際空港 Tōkyō Kokusai Kūkō) is an international airport in the ward of Ota in Tokyo, Japan. It is more commonly known as Haneda Airport (羽田空港). Its IATA airport code is HND.

By passenger throughput, Haneda is the busiest airport in Asia and the fifth-busiest airport in the world, handling 59 million passengers annually.

Haneda handled most of Tokyo's air traffic until the opening of New Tokyo International Airport, now known as Narita International Airport. Except for flights to Gimpo Airport in Gimpo, South Korea (near Seoul), it now handles domestic flights exclusively. Despite this, it remains classified as a first class airport.

A second domestic terminal known as the New Eastern Terminal is scheduled to open on December 1, 2004.

History

• 1931: Tokyo Airport opens.
• 1945: U.S. occupation forces take over the airport, renaming it Haneda AFB.
• 1947: Northwest Airlines begins scheduled flights from Haneda to the United States, Korea, China, and the Philippines.
• 1951: Japan Airlines begins its first domestic operations from Haneda.
• 1958: The U.S. military completes the return of the airport to Japan.
• 1961: Instrument landing system becomes operational.
• 1964: Tokyo Monorail opens, linking Haneda to the city center.
• 1970: New International Terminal is completed.
• 1974: On April 21, all Tokyo-Taipei flights are discontinued following the normalization of Japanese relations with the People's Republic of China. Japan Asia Airways takes over Tokyo-Taipei flights the following year.
• 1978: New Tokyo International Airport (now known as Narita International Airport) opens. All international flights, except for those to Taiwan, Republic of China are moved to NTIA by the end of the year, and customs/immigration facilities are removed from the main terminal to allow it to accommodate more domestic passengers.
• 1982: Japan Airlines flight 350 crashes near the airport.
• August 12, 1985: Japan Airlines flight 123, bound for Osaka International Airport,Itami/Toyonaka, loses control and crashes into a mountain after takeoff from Haneda; it is the worst single-aircraft disaster in history, with over 500 dead.
• 1991: The Japanese government's Boeing 747, used for transporting government delegations overseas, is based at Haneda.
• 1993: The West Passenger Terminal opens.
• 1999: All Nippon Airways Flight 61 is hijacked shortly after takeoff. The hijacker kills the pilot before he is subdued; the aircraft lands safely.
• 2000: JAL, ANA, and JAS launch "shuttle service" from Haneda to Osaka International Airport and Kansai International Airport.
• 2002: China Airlines moves its Taipei and Honolulu flights to Narita, temporarily ending HND's scheduled international services.
• 2003: JAL, ANA, KAL and Asiana service to Gimpo Airport near Seoul, Korea starts, providing a "city to city" service.

West Passenger Terminal ("Big Bird")

• Air Do (Hokkaido International Airlines)
• Air Nippon
• All Nippon Airways
• Japan Airlines
• Japan Air System
• Japan Transocean Air
• Skymark Airlines

International Terminal

• Asiana Airlines
• Korean Air

Other carriers

• Orange Cargo

Haneda Airport is served by the Keihin Kyuko Railway and Tokyo Monorail. There is also regular bus service to Narita International Airport and most major train stations in the Kanto region.

See also: Transportation of Japan