I’m off to Japan on Sunday night.

I’ve lived there twice and travel there often.

But I’ve never really enjoyed flying into Narita. Not only is it far from the city, but it lacks the shops that you become accustomed to in Changi or Heathrow and it lacks the scenic bay views that either Kansai or Nagoya centrair have to offer (although they too are far from the metropolis.)

So Haneda, which once was an International airport, is slowly becoming more so; in the past few years it’s just been flights to destinations like Seoul but increasingly more Asian destinations like Singapore are on the radar.

Today the WSJ reports that some US carriers are bidding for landing slots at Haneda.

With 4 runways and the possibility of more landing slots opening up given JAL’s rehabilitation, the airport has much more capacity.

Does Narita have a long term sustainable future?

Probably not would be my opinion. You might even argue that given the plight of Japan’s economy currently it would be better to open up the market and let in as many airlines as possible to Haneda. The net economic benefit would likely be positive.

I’m sure I wouldn’t be the only passenger who’d be in favour.