Tokyo's Haneda Airport Wants To Stick More Fees On Passengers, Especially International Passengers

Above, Narita Airport's shopping area at Terminal One. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Before you book your flight to Tokyo, and if you want to save about $4.80 in fees, you may want to land at Narita International Airport instead of Haneda Airport.

According to Nikkei Asian Review:

TOKYO -- Haneda Airport may charge users a special fee starting around fiscal 2017 to finance an expansion needed to accommodate more flights. 

The transport ministry seeks to introduce new low-altitude flight paths over Tokyo before the city hosts the Summer Olympics in 2020. This would alleviate congestion in the skies above Haneda, allowing the airport to add almost 40,000 takeoff and landing slots a year to the current total of around 450,000. The ministry intends to allocate most of the new slots to international flights.

Haneda needs to spend about ¥100 billion ($828 million) to expand the airport's terminals, tarmac and other facilities. They figure on charging international passengers a "special fee" of ¥500 and ¥100 on domestic passengers.

¥500 may not seem like much, but Haneda Airport already charges a facility usage fee of ¥2,570 on international passengers, while domestic passengers are only charged ¥290. Nothing like sticking it to foreign visitors, eh?

Sounds welcoming, doesn't it?

To read more, go here.