Commercial aircraft destined for Narita or Haneda airports will be automatically diverted to alternative landing sites in the event natural disasters shut down both facilities simultaneously.
Commercial aircraft destined for Narita or Haneda airports will be automatically diverted to alternative landing sites in the event natural disasters shut down both facilities simultaneously.
The transport ministry said Aug. 26 the system will be introduced from next fiscal year with trial runs likely to start during the current fiscal year.
The system would be activated in the event a massive quake directly under the Tokyo metropolitan area or along the Nankai trough in the Pacific Ocean renders the two largest airports in the Tokyo area unusable.
Haneda and Narita airports account for about 27 percent of all landings and departures at Japanese airports.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructutre, Transport and Tourism said 23 airports capable of accommodating the commercial flights would be equipped with computers to constantly monitor availability at alternative landing slots as well as the positions of aircraft in surrounding airspace.
That data would be collected at the air traffic control center in Fukuoka Prefecture.
If Narita and Haneda airports are both rendered inoperable, the computer system would automatically calculate fuel levels of aircraft in the air and select an alternative site for landing.
When the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster struck, 86 aircraft had to find alternative landing spots after Haneda and Narita airports temporarily suspended operations.
Individual airline companies sought out other landing sites, but the process was time-consuming.
Fourteen aircraft had to issue emergency warnings that they were running out of fuel and had to land immediately.
As a result, the transport ministry compiled a manual that transferred all responsibility to the central government for finding alternative landing sites for aircraft in the event both Tokyo-area airports were shut down.
The manual initially proposed that air traffic controllers using phones and radio contact various airports and aircraft. The computer system is intended to sharply reduce the time needed for finding an alternative airport.