Japan is set to agree with the United States that it will control new commercial flight routes in the U.S. military-controlled airspace near Tokyo's Haneda airport, officials said Tuesday.
"We are in the final phase of negotiations with the United States," transport minister Keiichi Ishii told a news conference. Tokyo aims to open the new routes in the spring of 2020.
The transport ministry has been negotiating with the United States for increased control of the airspace over Tokyo and its vicinity, which U.S. forces have managed since the postwar period, to boost international flight services ahead of the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.