About 215 domestic flights were canceled today, in addition to another 200 scheduled for Saturday at the Tokyo Haneda Airport following the accident that left five dead that took place on one of its runways on Tuesday and has since forced the suspension of almost a thousand air correspondences.
These cancellations have created a significant problem for many Japanese who had moved since Tokyo to their hometowns to celebrate the New Year, as is tradition.
The companies All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL) reported today the cancellation of 98 and 102 internal routes, respectively, that connect Haneda and regions like Kansai and Hokkaidoand which together left more than 33,000 passengers on the ground today, while the suspension of another two dozen flights scheduled for Saturday was confirmed.
Other airlines like skymark either Star Flyer They also canceled 15 flights, while some alerted their customers about possible unexpected cancellations in the coming days.
The flight disruption is expected to continue until runway operations resume. Haneda where the accident occurred, in which two planes collided, the remains of which must be removed.
In that sense, sources from the Ministry of Transportation cited today by local media indicated that an attempt will be made to reopen the fourth runway of Haneda next January 8th.
Japan Airlines estimated on Thursday that it will lose around 15 billion yen (about US$104 million or 95.7 million euros) due to the accident.
The collision between the planes occurred on Tuesday, shortly after a JAL commercial flight landed at 5:47 p.m. local time (9:47 GMT) in Haneda and collided with a Japan Coast Guard aircraft, causing both to catch fire.
According to flight control communications published by the Ministry of Transportation, the Coast Guard plane did not have permission to enter the runway.
The 379 occupants of the commercial flight were able to be evacuated, although 14 of them were injured, while of the six on the coast guard plane, only the captain, who was seriously injured, managed to save his life.
The aircraft of the Coast Guard was preparing to transport food and water for those affected by the strong earthquake that hit the western coast of central Japan on Monday and has left more than 90 people dead and more than 200 missing.
Source: Gestion
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