Travelers are stranded at Narita airport in Chiba Prefecture on Sept. 10 after public transportation linking it to the Tokyo metropolitan area was disrupted in the wake of Typhoon Faxai. | KYODO

National

Ahead of Typhoon Hagibis, Narita might wave off all landings Saturday to prevent another bottleneck

Kyodo

Narita Airport is considering rejecting all landings Saturday to prevent passengers from being stranded by the transport disruptions expected from Typhoon Hagibis, sources said.

Suspending landings for this purpose is an unusual move, but the sources said that Narita International Airport Corp. has learned its lesson from Typhoon Faxai, which caused severe damage in Chiba Prefecture last month and left as many as 17,000 people stuck at the airport.

Major transportation systems linking Tokyo and the surrounding areas to the airport are scheduled to be suspended, including East Japan Railway Co.’s Narita Line and express buses.

“Minimizing the number of people getting stuck at the airport is important. We are discussing it with the transport ministry,” said Yoichi Sakai, a director at Narita International Airport.

All Nippon Airlines Co. and Japan Airlines said they have canceled all domestic flights and some international flights from Narita.

The airport on Friday also conducted training for employees to handle such situations better in case many get stranded again.

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