Transport Minister Chikage Ogi recently sparked a row over a key part of the nation's future infrastructure plans when she suggested a review of the roles of Haneda and Narita airports.

Ogi, 67, an Upper House member who heads the New Conservative Party, assailed the Transport Ministry's decades-old sacred cow by saying changes are needed regarding Tokyo's Haneda airport, which mainly handles domestic fights, and Narita airport in Chiba Prefecture, the metropolitan area's international flight hub.

"Drastic changes in thinking are necessary for the 21st century. I'll boldly launch reforms where I believe they are needed," said Ogi, who will head the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry after the bureaucracy is reorganized on Jan. 6.

Ogi has begun calling for Haneda airport's capacity to be increased by utilizing slots now exclusively allocated for state guests or other special flights to handle the expected surge in overseas visitors for the World Cup soccer games in 2002 and other occasions.

Ogi's remark immediately drew sharp reactions from Chiba Prefecture, which staunchly defends Narita's monopoly on international fights.

The government had persuaded Chiba to accept an international airport to alleviate aircraft noise in the densely populated capital. The prefecture complied by pushing for the construction, despite strong protests from local farmers and sporadic acts of terrorism by leftwing radicals opposed to the project. Clashes in the past have claimed 14 lives.

Because of this history, Narita airport, whose original blueprint called for two runways, still has only one. Airlines from around the world also hope to increase their slots at the facility.

Ogi has been a harsh critic of past policies for building airport networks, saying they lacked "grand designs" to meet aggregate flight demand. She has pledged to draw up her own policy plan as soon as possible.

As it is, government policy on airport building seems inconsistent, if not confused.

Tokyo-area airports suffer terrible congestion, while massive outlays for remote regional airports continue.

Many of those regional airports, often regarded as huge pork-barrel projects, suffer far-lower-than-expected passenger traffic and charge exorbitant landing fees.

In 1989, the nation's three largest airlines asked the government to stop further construction of regional airports, saying networks had already been established and new regional airports tapping the nation's special account would simply increase the financial burden on passengers at other airports.

But the Transport Ministry continued to push for new airports and runways through the 1990s, at the urging of lawmakers from remote areas.

What happened to those airports? The Board of Audit, the watchdog of budgetary spending, blamed the ministry and local governments for lack of foresight about future passenger demand.

In its fiscal 2000 report, the board inspected 21 regional airports, excluding those on remote islands, that are operated by local governments. As a result, it estimated that 19 of them were losing money in fiscal 1999.

Fourteen of the 21 had publicized their predicted passenger levels, as they did again for fiscal 2000. Nine in the 14 airports saw fewer passengers than their forecast, including four that saw only half of what they predicted.

The Finance Ministry has also questioned the planned fiscal 2001 budget outlay for constructing a second runway at Kansai International Airport, where many airlines, including All Nippon Airways Co., have either reduced or withdrawn operations.

Ogi defended the second runway plan, calling it a national project to make Kansai a full-fledged international airport.

But she has not given clear support to the planned Kobe airport, which many local citizens and experts fear would never turn a profit, given its close proximity to Kansai airport and the domestic Osaka airport in Itami, Hyogo Prefecture.

Haneda and Narita airports, on the other hand, are expected to soon exceed their capacities.

Domestic airlines and airport operators now generate most of their profits with routes to Haneda.

There is no denying that the Tokyo-area airports' current capacity limits have adversely affected the ability of regional airport operators to raise profits, said Naohito Saeda, manager of the strategic research section of Japan Airlines Co.

According to projections by the Transport Ministry, the passenger load factor -- the ratio of passengers to seat capacity -- will reach 80 percent around 2015 for all Haneda flights.

"With a load factor of 80 percent, you would probably not be able to reserve a seat," said a spokesman for a major airline, pointing out that the all-year peak this year was around 80 percent.

But expanding the capacities of either Narita or Haneda airports will not be easy.

Chiba finally bowed to Transport Ministry pressure by agreeing on Dec. 7 to allow Haneda to handle international flights between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., when Narita is shut down due to its noise curfew.

Ogi then upped the ante by demanding more international flights for Haneda airport. This prompted Chiba Gov. Takeshi Numata to threaten to cancel the agreement on conditional international flights at Haneda.