The Abe administration released on Tuesday a draft plan to sharply increase the number of overseas destinations for flights from the Tokyo area's Haneda and Narita airports to boost their international competitiveness and foreign visitors to Japan.
Drawn up by the transport ministry, the draft basic transport policy plan seeks to raise the number of such destinations from the airports from 88 at present to a level close to the 143 for Incheon and Gimpo airports for Seoul and 138 for Hong Kong airport by fiscal 2020.
The plan calls for increasing the share of low-cost carrier users in international flights to 17 percent by 2020 from 7 percent in 2013, while promoting budget-carrier flights to overseas destinations from regional airports in Japan.
The administration hopes to finalize the transport policy plan within this year.
The draft also calls for promoting the construction of new bullet train lines and a maglev line, and for increasing transport facilities that are friendly to the elderly as Japanese society ages.
Among the proposals contained in the draft plan are eliminating uneven floors and installing restrooms for the disabled by fiscal 2020 at all railway stations and airports used by at least 3,000 people a day.