The transport ministry estimates that a planned fourth runway at Tokyo's Haneda airport will add 1.2 trillion yen to the economy of the metropolitan area the year it is completed, ministry officials said Tuesday.

The runway is also scheduled to be used for international flights. When it is completed -- the target date is 2009 -- it should help increase the number of arrivals and departures at the airport to 360,000 a year, up from the current 270,000, according to calculations by the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry.

The increased use of the airport will boost sales at airlines and airport-related businesses by about 600 billion yen, the ministry estimated.

Another 600 billion yen will probably be generated for other industries in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama prefectures, the ministry said.

It predicted that the increased earnings will result in about 34 billion yen in tax revenues and 112,000 new jobs.

Of the four prefectures, Tokyo is expected to benefit the most -- receiving 90 percent of the economic effect, 73 percent of the expected tax revenues and 67 percent of the new jobs.

The ministry analyzed the predicted effects of the airport's expansion on the local economy in an effort to obtain financial help from the local government for the project, which is estimated at 900 billion yen, the officials said.

It presented the estimates to a meeting the same day of heads of seven prefectural and municipal governments involved with the Haneda project, the officials said.

But the governors and mayors, including Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, are strongly opposed to taking on any financial burden, saying the central government should shoulder the entire cost of the project.

Flight reductions

Singapore Airlines Ltd. said Tuesday it will reduce flights on three routes between Singapore and Japan in the next two months due to weak demand stemming from the outbreak of war in Iraq.

The decision concerns the airline's routes between Singapore and Nagoya, Hiroshima and Fukuoka, and is part of a plan to curtail 65 flights a week worldwide.

Singapore Airlines said it will cut its seven weekly flights to five for the Singapore-Fukuoka route beginning April 1 and similarly reduce flight frequency on the Singapore-Nagoya route on April 8.

The Singapore-Hiroshima route will be reduced from four flights a week to two, effective April 1, it said.

Skynet gets loan

MIYAZAKI (Kyodo) Startup airline Skynet Asia Airways Co. has secured a 1 billion yen loan package to fund the launch of a new route, company officials said Tuesday.

The airline, based in the city of Miyazaki, recently finalized terms with Miyazaki Bank, Miyazaki Taiyo Bank, Takanabe Shinkin Bank and two government-affiliated financial institutions on the loan deal.

Skynet Asia will introduce a new route in August between Kumamoto and Tokyo's Haneda airport that requires estimated startup costs of 2.5 billion yen.

Industry sources said the lenders were initially hesitant about financing the expansion plan but agreed after evaluating the carrier's business performance.

Skynet plans to submit business plans for Haneda-Kumamoto service to the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry next month, the officials said.