Narita To Halve Landing Fees For New Intl Flights

TOKYO (Nikkei)--Narita International Airport Corp. will cut tonnage-based landing fees for new international service in half starting in April, the airport operator announced Thursday.

The discount will remain in place until the end of March 2016.

International landing charges are calculated based on an airline's cumulative landing weight and other factors. This means that when an airline offers new routes or adds flights on existing ones, its fees rise because of a heavier cumulative landing weight.

With competition heating up among airports in Asia, Narita seeks to become a major international hub by lowering its landing charges. "We want to encourage airline operators to utilize landing and departure slots" that will be newly added from the end of March, Narita International Airport Corp. President Makoto Natsume told a news conference.

Separately, the airport will slash landing fees for all international flights by an average of 5.5% from April.

An airline that uses midsize aircraft on a newly launched route will see its fees reduced by 240,000 yen per landing from what it would have paid otherwise, including the tonnage discount. This will bring Narita's fees closer in line with those charged by South Korea's Incheon airport and Singapore's Changi airport.

(The Nikkei, March 1 morning edition)

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