Security : Best Airport Security in the World
Narita International Airport also known as Tokyo Narita Airport, formerly and originally known as New Tokyo International Airport , is an international airport serving the Greater Tokyo Area of Japan. It is located approximately 60 kilometres east of central Tokyo in Chiba Prefecture, straddling the border between the city of Narita and the adjacent town of Shibayama. It has the best security of all airports.
Narita is the predominant international airport in Japan, handling around 50% of the country’s international passenger traffic and 60% of its international air cargo traffic. As of 2016, Narita was the second-busiest passenger airport in Japan (after Haneda Airport in Tokyo), and was the tenth-busiest air freight hub in the world. Its 4,000-metre (13,123 ft) main runway shares the record for longest runway in Japan with the second runway at Kansai International Airport in Osaka.
Narita serves as the main international hub of Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways and Nippon Cargo Airlines, and as a hub for low-cost carriers Jetstar Japan, Peach and Vanilla Air.
In 2016, Narita served 39,000,563 passengers, making it the 48th busiest airport in the world in terms of passenger traffic.
From 1978 to 2015, Narita Airport was the only airport in Japan where visitors were required to show ID upon entry, due to the tumultuous history of the airport’s construction and the violent protests before, during, and after its opening. By 2012, Narita’s operator was considering dispensing with the security checks. Given that the number of flight slots at Narita are also increasing, the anti-airport struggles were a long time ago, and Haneda Airport in Tokyo shaping up as a more serious competitor, a council headed by Chiba governor Kensaku Morita consisting of prefectural government officials, the Narita International Airport Corporation and business groups in Narita, proposed scrapping the ID checks. The Chiba prefectural police objected, stating that the checks were necessary to detect extremists and terrorists.
NAA experimented with a new threat detection system for two months in 2013, using a combination of cameras, explosive detectors, dogs and other measures in lieu of passport and baggage checks upon entering the terminal. In March 2015, NAA announced that the ID checks would cease and the new system would be used for terminal building security, effective as of the end of that month.
Narita Airport was the first Japanese airport to house millimeter wave scanners. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced in March 2010 that trials would be carried out at Narita from July 5 through September 10, 2010. Five types of machines were to be tested sequentially outside the Terminal 1 South Wing security checkpoint; the subjects were Japanese nationals who volunteered for trial screening, as well as airport security staff during hours when the checkpoint is closed.
