Due to the downturn in aviation demand due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Tokyo-Narita Airport will shut down one of its runways.

Narita – which normally operates with two runways – will shut down Runway B bginning 6AM Sunday (Japan Standard Time) with the airport stating in a release the reopening will be announced later.

Runway B (16L/34R) at Narita is around 2500 meters long located on the eastern side of the airport. The longer, 4000 meter Runway A (16R/34L) will remain open. It will be the first time the airport will be primarily a single-runway operation since before Runway B was opened in 2002.

The last time the airport was forced to use one runway for operations was in 2009 when a FedEx cargo jet crashed while attempting a landing on Runway A forcing the temporary closure of the runway.



The airport has reported a decrease of weekly flights by nearly 85% year-on-year.

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