Noise Measures for the Enhancement of Airport Function at Narita International Airport

This paper describes noise measures for further enhancement of airport function, which the airport corporation (NAA) and the Government plan to promote at Narita International Airport. This enhancement aims for airport capacity expansion up to a maximum of 500,000 movements per year in future by means of extension of the existing parallel runway, construction of a new third runway and relaxation of nighttime flight restrictions, in order to enhance international competitiveness of Narita International Airport in East Asia and to improve convenience for airport customers. Among those means, relaxation of nighttime flight restrictions was initially planned to reduce the curfew time from the current 7 hours (23:00 - 06:00) to 4 hours (01:00-05:00), but strong oppositions from residents around the airport forced to modify the plan to a widened curfew time of 4 hours and 30 minutes (0:30-05:00). Besides, NAA also proposed setting runway operation hours, a bit different for each runway, and installing inner sash windows for bedroom if necessary, in order to keep quiet nighttime of 7 hours in regions near the runway. Finally, we reached an agreement with residents around the airport on the proposed enhancement. This paper describes these proposals and negotiations in detail.