TokyoTomo Travel Guide

ANA (NH) has installed “Ladies-only Lavatory” on international routes as from 1st March 2010, except the flights which operated by Airbus A320 and Boeing B737 fleets. Following many requests from passengers for this service, one ladies-only lavatory will be located in the aft section of the Economy Class.

ANA will continue its efforts to improve its service by taking passengers’ requests such as arranging equipments for ladies etc. All the installing work on all the planned fleets will be completed by the end of April.

Even if this facility is for ladies-only, in the case of emergencies such as when required for safety reasons, just prior to the seat belt sign being turned on during take-off and landing, or when a passenger is not feeling well and a personal urgent requires such use, men passengers may be allowed to use these facilities. Also if there are very few female passengers, the ladies-only designation may be lifted for the flight. In such cases, passengers will be informed through an in-flight announcement. In addition, the facility will be used by passengers with disabilities.

Source: Travel Vision

Travel Vision Inc. provides information on the travel industry in Japan via "Daily Travel Vision", a Japanese-language e-mail newsletter, and the "Travel Vision" website. There are nearly 110,000 people working in the Japanese travel industry, and Travel Vision is proud to be bringing travel news to more than 30,000 people through Daily Travel Vision.

Haneda airport is set to upgrade its Instrument Landing System (ILS) from the present Category II to Category III following cancellation of hundred over flights due to dense fog last week. Last Thursday in the morning, an area of warm, moist air flowed into the Kanto region from the south, which cooled over Tokyo Bay, caused fog to flow into coastal areas. Resulting in bad visibility, paralizing aircraft movements at Tokyo’s Haneda airport and forcing most airlines to cancel flights or to reroute them, disrupting thousands of travelers.

An upgrade to CAT-III instrument landing approach procedures would allow aircraft to begin approach with close to zero visibility, landing in the densest fog, said Mr Maihara, the transport minister. Haneda airport, which is now operating a CAT-II approach and landing system will progressively upgrade for operations under CAT-III conditions. This will enable aircraft to make an approach and land under extremely low visibility conditions up to visibility minima of 30 meters and below, or having no decision height and no runway visual range limitations, as against the current visibility minima of 30 meters and a runway visual range not less than 300 meters (350 meters for certain aircrafts) for CAT-II operations.

The upgrade help optimize operational capability, greatly reduce disruptions caused by weather, reaffirming Haneda’s commitment, is also viewed by many as an essential component for positioning Haneda airport as an International hub.

Yoshio Taguchi, Deputy Director of International Air Transport Division, Civil Aviation Bureau of MLIT addressed the recent JATA Management Forum 2010 about its strategy for the internationalization of Tokyo’s Haneda Airport and explained that the international flights departing from Haneda after October “will be evenly distributed to serve nearly all major international cities.” The number of daily international departure and arrival slots available after the airport’s further expansion is expected to total 40 during the day and another 40 during the late evening and early morning. The day time slots will see 24 flights assigned to serve Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and the late evening and early morning slots have been allocated to 36 flights serving 11 countries in Asia, North America and Europe. The respective take-off and landing slots are allocated half/half between Japan and its counterparts. Except for some destinations, airlines are generally eager to operate the routes from Haneda, said Taguchi.

Out of the departure and arrival slots available during the day, Korea has been allocated daily 12 slots and Hong Kong and Taiwan have been allocated daily four slots and eight slots respectively. As far as the remaining 16 slots are concerned, Taguchi said that International Air Transport Division of Civil Aviation Bureau is expected to grant all these 16 slots to China during the aviation talks between the two countries. The actual increase of the slots is daily 24 since 16 slots have been used up for the currently operated scheduled charter flights. Taguchi continued, “ A majority of the remaining 24 day time take-off and landing slots will be most probably allocated to flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, Busan, Hong Kong and Taiwan’s Songshan,” expecting these destinations from Haneda to enhance the network of short-haul Asian business shuttle flights.

Meanwhile, the late evening and early morning slots have been agreed to be assigned to four flights to Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore respectively, two flights each to Malaysia and Thailand, eight flights to USA, two flights to Canada, four flights to Germany and two flights respectively to Netherland, France and UK. “Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Hong Kong are to be definitely served from Haneda,” said Taguchi, adding, ”Although European airlines have not released any definite flight schedules, Japanese carriers are said to be considering starting services to Frankfurt, London and Paris which are the respective hubs of their partnership airlines.” Five US carriers declared their wish to inaugurate the US routes from Haneda Airport, but US government reportedly said that it intends to allocate some of the take-off and landing slots to Hawaii and Guam. The remaining four departure and arrival slots, like the day time slots, will be reserved for China and dealt with during the negotiations with China.

Asked to comment on a probability of low cost carriers (LCCs) operating from Haneda, Taguchi of International Air Transport Division, CAB, said, “We have no reason to turn down their requests, but we presume that their flag carriers will, under the general circumstances, operate the Haneda route since its landing fee will be quite expensive for LCCs (low cost carriers). Having said that, he indicated a possibility that LCCs may, nevertheless, start services taking advantage of the late evening and early morning take-off and landing slots, during which the preferred slots may be comparatively easy for the low cost carriers to secure to operate scheduled flights or charter flights.

Source: Travel Vision

Travel Vision Inc. provides information on the travel industry in Japan via "Daily Travel Vision", a Japanese-language e-mail newsletter, and the "Travel Vision" website. There are nearly 110,000 people working in the Japanese travel industry, and Travel Vision is proud to be bringing travel news to more than 30,000 people through Daily Travel Vision.