http://en.airportnews.jp/ Airport News Japan ja Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:55:02 +0900 http://en.airportnews.jp/img/footer/logo.gif http://en.airportnews.jp/ Wifi on Narita Express http://en.airportnews.jp/headline/243/ 0 Since February 25, Minato Ward, Tokyo-based UQ Communications Inc. has been taking applications for its high-speed wireless data transmission service, UQ WiMAX, on the Narita Express connecting Narita Airport with downtown Tokyo. Previously, joining the service required one to apply in advance for the Wi-Fi (wireless LAN) option, but now customers can apply using the Wi-Fi environment in the rail line’s E259 series trains. Customers do not enter into a contract for UQ WiMAX, but now they can quickly apply online and open a connection when they need high-speed internet access while traveling on urgent business. One can use a PC or other device with a Wi-Fi connection feature without the need for a WiMAX Express Card or other special piece of hardware. The usage fee is 600 yen per day or 380 to 4,980 yen per month (total of basic usage fee and transmission fee). UQ Communications has already been taking applications through the same sort of Wi-Fi environment in public spaces and airline lounges at 19 Japanese airports including New Chitose, Chubu International and Fukuoka. The company will gradually add more compatible areas and increase convenience for airport visitors.。 140.38768887519836,35.767938842067146 Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:09:00 +0900 Apple Experiment http://en.airportnews.jp/headline/242/ 0 A research experiment is being conducted at Aomori Airport (Aomori, Aomori Prefecture) in which locally grown apples are buried in snow to enhance their flavor. It’s long been known in this area that using the freezing cold snow to store produce will make it sweeter and preserve its freshness, improving its overall flavor. Recently though, there are reportedly more proactive efforts to freeze and store produce for sale at a later date. A decision was made to make effective use of the snow at Aomori Airport and promote both the airport and Aomori apples. In late January, 20 cases of the prefecture’s apples were stored in a specially built “yukimuro” (meaning “snow room”). As part of the “Aomori Airport Sorayuki Apple Branding Research (Using the Cold of Unremoved Snow),” a theme of a prefectural project called the “Aomori Growth Strategy Survey Research Commencing in FY2009,” the airport is collaborating with the prefecture to conduct this experiment for the first time. The apples are scheduled to be dug out in mid to late April and sold in airport shops as Sorayuki Apples (meaning “Air-Snow Apples”). An airport official said, “[We hope] they become a new tasty product from Aomori Airport.”。 140.688779,40.738207 Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:25:00 +0900 Naria Sky Access http://en.airportnews.jp/headline/241/ 0 On February 19, Sumida Ward, Tokyo-based Keisei Electric Railway Co., Ltd. announced it will open its new ground transport service, the Narita Sky Access Line, on July 17, connecting Narita Airport in Narita, Chiba Prefecture with downtown Tokyo. Newly designed trains will travel along the route of the new line at speeds of 160 kph, the fastest in Japan on conventional (non-Shinkansen) tracks. It will connect the airport’s Terminal 2 and Nippori, Taito Ward in as little as 36 minutes, 15 minutes faster than the Skyliner that now travels via the Keisei Main Line. The company stated that by greatly reducing the travel time to and from downtown Tokyo, the railway “will provide airport access that also compares favorably internationally.” Fare between Narita Airport and Keisei Ueno will be 2,400 yen on the New Skyliner and 1,200 yen for riding regular trains (approval pending).。 140.3859829902649,35.765392506552935 Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:59:00 +0900 Cosplay at Ibaraki AP http://en.airportnews.jp/headline/240/ 0 Ibaraki Airport in Omitama, Ibaraki Prefecture will hold the Ibaraki Airport Cosplay Festival on March 14. The event is connected to the “Comiket Special 5 in Mito” being held on the 21st and 22nd in the city of Mito. It will be the first time for the airport passenger terminal to act as the venue for a public event after it opens on March 11. The event will be located inside the building and at the adjoining Airport Park, where there will be photo shoots in cosplay costumes and “cosplay fortune-telling.” A raffle is also scheduled where participants can win local specialties from seven nearby municipalities. Admission is 1,000 yen for cosplayers and 1,500 yen for photographers. Advance registration is required for both. Reception will open at 10:00 a.m. at the festival site. A full-blown cosplay festival is a rare event for an airport terminal building. An event organizer commented, “It’s an amazing situation you won’t get a second chance to see.” The festival will be held from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.。 140.417987,36.18095 Wed, 03 Mar 2010 17:40:00 +0900 ANA to fly Iwakuni-Haneda http://en.airportnews.jp/headline/239/ 0 On February 17, All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd. (ANA) declared that it will open a new route connecting US Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni (JMSDF Iwakuni Air Base, Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture) with Haneda Airport in Tokyo. ANA officials visited Yamaguchi Prefecture Governor Sekinari Nii and Iwakuni Mayor Yoshihiko Fukuda to officially deliver the news. The airline aims to start flying four daily roundtrip flights after the base is reopened as a civilian airport in fiscal 2012. Details such as aircraft models and flight schedules will be determined after considering market demand and convenience. After 1964, there were no civilian carriers flying commercially from Iwakuni Air Base, but in 2005 the Japanese and U.S. governments agreed to allow civilian aircraft to operate four daily roundtrip flights from the base. Progress continued thereafter towards making the air base a shared civilian and military airport. In February, the Japanese government officially announced its policy to reopen the civilian airport. The process will continue with preparations for establishing a company to manage and administer the terminal building.。 132.22869873046875,34.14988578530622 Mon, 01 Mar 2010 13:06:00 +0900 Haneda-US flights filed http://en.airportnews.jp/headline/238/ 0 On February 16, five American airline companies announced they have applied to the United States Department of Transportation for permission to establish new routes connecting the U.S. and Narita Airport. In December of last year, Japanese and U.S. aviation regulatory authorities agreed to conclude an Open Skies agreement liberalizing aviation between the two countries, and the American airline companies are aiming to start service in October of this year when the new runway opens at Haneda Airport, which is re-expanding and internationalizing. American Airlines, Inc. (AA) is applying for routes from New York and Los Angeles, Continental Airlines, Inc. (CO) for New York (Newark) and Guam, United Airlines, Inc. (UA) for San Francisco, Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DL) for Seattle, Detroit, Los Angeles and Honolulu, and Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. (HA) for Honolulu. The agreement allows for new international landing slots at Haneda Airport for four daily roundtrip flights for the U.S. and Japan each, but applications have been made for routes connecting eight U.S. airports to Haneda, twice the number allotted. The U.S. Department of Transportation will decide which routes to authorize.。 139.77336645126343,35.54418681464256 Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:00:00 +0900 Bilingual taxi at Haneda http://en.airportnews.jp/headline/237/ 0 On February 6, Itabashi Ward, Tokyo-based taxi company Anzen Group Corporation began offering a Bilingual Taxi service in multiple languages between the downtown Tokyo area and Haneda Airport. The company is responding to the diversification of travelers that will accompany the internationalization and re-expansion of Haneda Airport in October of this year by assigning drivers who can speak English, Chinese, Spanish or Korean to its Haneda Airport Fixed Fare Taxi service it first started up in December of last year. Reservations must be made (online only) at least 48 hours in advance. Fares are the same as those for the Fixed Fare Taxi service as outlined below. Haneda Airport - Asakusa/Shibuya/Shinjuku/Akihabara 6,000 yen 5:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. / 8,000 yen 10:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m. Haneda Airport - Nakano/Ikebukuro 8,000 yen / 9,000 yen Haneda Airport - Kichijoji 11,000 yen / 13,000 yen A company spokesperson said of the new service, “We expect there to be more foreign businesspeople and tourists accompanying the greater number of international flights at Haneda, so we saw that there will be demand for multilingual customer service for getting from the airport to downtown or for going to the Airport.” Customers can also ride Bilingual Taxis with the company’s Narita Airport Fixed Fare and Tokyo Disney Resort Fixed Fare services.。 139.78689014911652,35.54705447130244 Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:43:00 +0900 Snokku-kun at Memanbetsu http://en.airportnews.jp/headline/236/ 0 “Snokku-kun,” the airport mascot for Memanbetsu Airport in Ozora, Abashiri District, Hokkaido, is going strong again this winter, which is a bitterly cold one. Memanbetsu Airport’s Snokku-kun is supposed to be the oldest airport mascot. A spokesperson from the airport’s management office said he was created as part of the 1998 “Sora no Hi” (“Sky Day”) project after the “Sora no Hi, Sora no Junkan” (“Sky Day and Sky Week”) Executive Committee collected characters submitted by local residents. The design chosen on September 20, Sky Day, from among those submitted was a work by a third-year junior high school student in Memanbetsu. The final character design was revealed on January 28, 1999 and named Snokku-kun later that year on March 29. Ideas for names were invited through various media, and the combination of “snow” and “Okhotsk” (which became “Snokku” in the Japanese syllabary) from among roughly 400 people was adopted. As when the character was first adopted, the management office says that Snokku-kun is still not largely recognized as “the first mascot character of a Japanese airport,” although there is no mistake that Snokku-kun, a snowman taking off from the runway on a jumbo jet, is “THE airport mascot character of Japan’s extreme north.”。 144.158874,43.881473 Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:24:00 +0900 East Asian Triangle Routes http://en.airportnews.jp/headline/235/ 0 Rregular charter commercial flights are flying to Seoul, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing on international routes from Haneda Airport at present, but those to Seoul and Shanghai are landing at primarily domestic airports (Gimpo and Hongqiao) that are nearer each city’s downtown area than their respective international airports. This convenient access makes them popular among travelers taking day trips and those traveling under time constraints. Gimpo Airport is about 17 km from Seoul, while Incheon Airport is 50 km. Likewise, Hongqiao is about 15 km from downtown Shanghai, while Pudong Airport is 30 km away. In Tokyo as well, Haneda Airport is 15 km from downtown, while Narita Airport is 60 km. In many cases, the time required for ground travel from a domestic airport to downtown is less than half that required for the same city’s main international airport. A passenger on the routes commented that whichever city one travel’s to, “They clearly make for more efficient business and itineraries.” Since there are also international commercial routes between Seoul’s Gimpo Airport and Shanghai’s Hongquiao Airport, the three routes connecting them and each to Haneda Airport is called the “East Asia Business Triangle” by some travelers. The flights on the “Triangle Routes” consistently fill a high percentage of seats. After Haneda Airport internationalizes this October, there are plans to upgrade the two routes to the airports for regular, non-charter commercial flights.。 139.79028582572937,35.54711121233261 Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:00:00 +0900 Ibaraki - Kobe flight http://en.airportnews.jp/headline/234/ 0 Starting April 16, Ohta Ward, Tokyo-based Skymark Airlines, Inc. will fly one daily roundtrip flight to Kobe from Ibaraki Airport in Omitama, Ibaraki Prefecture. The route, announced by the airline on February 6, will be the first domestic commercial route to Ibaraki Airport, which opens on March 11. The flight schedule is still being arranged, but it is expected to be a morning roundtrip flight. Regular one-way fares for adults will be 12,000 yen. Discounts for advance ticket purchases will reach as low as below half-price. In February, Skymark also announced “commemorative flights” between Kobe, Ibaraki and Haneda on the day the airport opens. There was speculation over whether Skymark was “making preparations for regular commercial flights,” and the expectation that the airport’s value for “low-cost initiatives” would suit Skymark’s quest for a low-cost business model quickly turned into fact.。 140.417987,36.18095 Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:54:00 +0900