More domestic services will be offered from Narita airport, the main international airport serving Tokyo and its vicinity, from April 18, when the airport's second runway opens, airport officials said Saturday.
Two daily flights will be inaugurated by small regional airline Fair Inc. on a new route linking Narita and Sendai, while flights on existing routes from Narita to four domestic destinations will increase.
Domestic services at Narita airport, which primarily handles international traffic, will increase from up to seven flights per day to as many as 18.
Currently, flights are operated from Narita to Sapporo/Chitose, Nagoya and Osaka/Itami by both All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines, while JAL also flies to Fukuoka.
Seats on these flights are also sold by their foreign code-share partners, such as United Airlines and American Airlines.
After the second runway opens, Fair Inc. will offer two flights a day to Sapporo, while JAL and JAL Express, a JAL subsidiary, will each operate one flight a day to Sapporo.
For Nagoya, JAL and J Air, another JAL unit, will each operate one flight a day, while three flights to the city will be offered jointly by Air Nippon (ANK), an ANA subsidiary, and ANK partner Nakanihon Airlines.
JAL will operate one flight a day to Osaka while ANA will offer two, while for Fukuoka, JAL and JEX will operate one flight a day each and ANK will have two.
The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry said the opening of the 2,180-meter second runway should allow Narita airport to accommodate up to 27 domestic flights every day, or some 20,000 flight slots per year.