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The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism is now working on the feasibility of adding a fifth runway for Haneda airport now that it is going international, aiming at being a round-the-clock hub airport located in central Tokyo. With the forth runway scheduled to complete in October this year, opening up to 120,000 additional take-off and landing movements per year, will begin offer more international routes and better connections, strengthening Haneda’s role as a hub airport.

Many foreign carriers have expressed interest to operate out of Haneda airport, because of the close proximity to the city as compared to Narita, which is seen as a lucrative route. Just last year we saw Singapore Airlines and Jetstar Asia both claiming for the twice-daily flight to Haneda, with SIA securing them all. And in recent news, all five US airlines companies (American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines) scrambling for the precious four round-trips daily between U.S. cities and Haneda airport.

The discussion of a fifth runway is no surprise. It is only a matter of time before we hear calls for expansion stressing the need for another runway. The Transport Ministry will have to work on calculating the cost and requirement for the extra runway by March next year before announcing its decision.