Japan’s Narita airport plans expansion to construct a third runway
Contracts remain unsigned for 51 hectares needed for Narita’s expansion, which was intended to raise annual take-off and landing capacity to 500,000.
- Narita International Airport is planning an expansion that includes the construction of a third runway.
- The project aims to increase the airport's annual capacity for take-offs and landings from 340,000 to 500,000.
- The expansion has been delayed beyond its original March 2029 completion date due to difficulties in acquiring the necessary land.
- To overcome the delays, the airport operator is now considering compulsory land acquisition and plans to apply for approval under Japan's land expropriation law.
Compulsory land acquisition could become an option for the delayed expansion of Japan’s Narita International Airport, whose operator plans to apply to the transport minister for approval under the land expropriation law as early as this year.
The plan emerged on Monday (October 5).
The expansion’s main feature is a third runway at the airport in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, with the project intended to lift the annual ceiling on take-offs and landings from 340,000 to 500,000.
Land acquisition difficulties have disrupted the original March 2029 completion timetable.
On Thursday, the operator reported that 4.7% of the required land, covering 51 hectares, remained without signed acquisition contracts.
Chiba Prefecture and municipalities surrounding the airport gave their consent in July to the operator’s proposed use of the law.
Before submitting its application, the operator will hold the required briefings during October and November for landowners and others in Narita city and the towns of Tako and Shibayama.
Owners who refuse to hand over the land needed for the expansion by the stipulated deadline could face compulsory acquisition once the application is accepted.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
