U.S returns another 20% of Yokota AB airspace

I previously posted about the Yokota AB RAPCON and the citizens living around the base receiving money for noise damage. Here is an update related to both stories:

Flight routes can now be easily set for westward-bound passenger planes from Haneda Airport in Tokyo.

That is because the Yokota airspace, which expands over the west of the airport and is under the air traffic control of the U.S. Air Force's Yokota Air Base, has now been returned in part to Japan.

The skies over the metropolitan area are now more crowded. Accordingly, it is very significant that new air routes have been secured for flights to and from Haneda.

The Japanese and U.S. governments have also agreed to consider necessary conditions by fiscal 2009 for the United States to return the Yokota airspace in its entirety. We want the two governments to push ahead with talks for specifics about the airspace's overall reversion.

The Yokota airspace came under the Allied Powers' control after the end of World War II. After that, its traffic control was transferred to the U.S. military. Since then, the U.S. Air Force, based on the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, has controlled the air traffic of U.S. military and Self-Defense Forces aircraft to and from the Yokota, Atsugi, and Iruma bases.

In May 2006, the Japanese and U.S. governments agreed on the Yokota airspace's partial reversion as a step in the process of realigning U.S. forces in Japan. This is the eighth time for the United States to return part of the airspace. This time, however, the United States has returned 20% of the airspace's area and 50% of its volume.In the past as well, civilian aircraft was allowed to pass through the airspace with permission from the U.S. military. For safety and other reasons, however, the greater part of civilian airplanes from Haneda Airport to such destinations as Kyushu, South Korea, and China used to turn and make a steep climb over Tokyo Bay to fly over the Yokota airspace.

With the airspace's reversion this time, the Yokota airspace's altitude is now markedly lower. Civilian aircraft can now easily fly over the Yokota airspace without needing to make a steep climb.

The flight time of westbound flights from Haneda to destinations will be three minutes shorter on average, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Its economic effect, such as reducing fuel costs, will total 9.8 billion yen.

In October 2010, a fourth runway will be placed in service at Haneda Airport. This will make it possible for the airport to handle an annual total of more than 400,000 flights, an increase of 140% from the airport's current handling capacity. The annual number of international flights to and from such cities as Shanghai and Seoul is also expected to increase to 60,000.

Setting new westbound flight routes will also give a significant impetus to the internationalization of Haneda. It is essential to further improve flight routes before the airport's reextension and make the most of the effects of airspace reversion.

The task left to Haneda is how to set flight routes over the heart of Tokyo.

In principle, the skies over the heart of Tokyo are currently excluded from flight paths out of consideration for the noise problem and other circumstances. Instead, there are many flight routes over Chiba Prefecture. This has caused a strong feeling of unfairness.

If the skies over the heart of Tokyo can be better used for civil aviation, there will be more leeway for flight paths, and the metropolitan skies can be more convenient. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Tokyo metropolitan government should discuss this matter in earnest.

Source: Yomiuri Shimbun, September 23, 2008