Haneda Airport: Gateway From The World To Tokyo

Haneda Airport (HND), formally known as Tokyo International Airport, was opened in 1931. With the opening of Narita Airport (NRT) in 1978, Narita Airport took over most of Tokyo’s international air traffic and Haneda Airport was designated to handle Tokyo’s domestic air traffic.

However, the completion of a new runway and international terminal building in October 2010, marked a new start for Haneda as a full-fledged international airport.

It will be for sure pure pleasure for anyone who lands in Tokyo to have his first impressions at a place like this.

Haneda’s facilities have been given a major upgrade in line with the changes, so that it now serves as much more than just an airport, offering commercial facilities that showcase Japanese culture to global passengers.

Haneda’s main attraction is its location very close to the center of Tokyo.

New stations on the Tokyo Monorail and the Keikyu line have made travel times to the city center among the shortest of the world’s major international airports.

It takes as little as 13 minutes to get from the airport to Shinagawa station on the Keikyu line, where passengers can transfer to the Shinkansen bullet train or to Hamamatsucho station by monorail.

From Hamamatsucho, it is just six minutes to Tokyo Station. This compares favorably to the travel times for major international airports such as JFK in New York (35 minutes) and Charles de Gaulle in Paris (29 minutes). Arriving at the airport could hardly be easier: the monorail station is just a one-minute walk from the departure lobby.

Haneda’s unbeatable location and early-morning and late-night flights have already made the new international facility a big hit with local travel agencies.

Haneda Airport consists of three terminal buildings: terminal 1 which is mainly used by JAL and its subsidiary airlines, terminal 2 which is mainly used by ANA and its subsidiary airlines and the international terminal which handles all international flights.

With over 60 million passengers per year (2009 data), Haneda Airport was Japan’s busiest airport, second busiest airport in Asia and ranked among the world’s five busiest airports.