Anthony Leslie takes a closer look at Asia-Pacific’s cutting edge airport architecture.

The world is in a state of flux. As the gloomy news of recession continues to intensify, there is much talk of how the world will never be the same again.

Without question, airports will be key developments within whatever new world structure emerges. And architects and other design professionals are positioned to respond with new visions for the road before us.



New ways of thinking about travel, security, sustainability and economic growth will be reflected in the design of next-generation airports. The world at large will have to deal with remarkably similar issues: internationalism vs. regionalism, the scale of an enterprise and a sense of meaning.

The airport has come to represent so much in the early 21st century, with the drive for ever-greater capacity embodied in bigger and more ambitious structures. ‘Gateway’ or ‘iconic’ forms reflect the aspirations of a nation, state or city. More and more efficient processors capitalise on the huge increase in the mobility of people and as nodes or motors, generating airport cities that create jobs and wealth beyond the limits of an airport itself.



Like all building types, the airport terminal is no longer a pure breed, but instead, a complex blend of travel, retail, commercial and transport interchange. One day, when technology allows, it will truly become the heart of a living community.

But what about the buildings themselves? In Southeast Asia and the Pacific Rim, cutting edge airport design is represented in built form, providing a wonderful opportunity to examine the evolution of airport architecture.

Sendai International Airport in Japan represents a relatively modest scale of thinking in the region. Designed by HOK and opening in 1998, it offered 40,000 square metres of terminal. The domestic and international wings are connected by a central garden atrium that serves as a gathering place and focal point. A glazed tubular concourse provides access to the planes, and a ground-level plaza offers space and facilities for business and local community use.

As the region began to develop dramatically as an economic force, airports began assuming a dual role, both as processors of larger numbers of people and as emblems of their countries. Competition creates an appetite for design exuberance, and designers strive to predict and form the future through the buildings they create.

Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), Hong Kong International Airport and Beijing Capital (in respect of its magnificent new Terminal 3) are three airports that embody forward-thinking visions.



Ambitious for its time (the largest airport in the world when it opened), Hong Kong International Airport processes a remarkable 48.6 million passengers per annum. Based on a master plan developed by HOK, it sits on reclaimed land (so much reclaimed land that it increased Hong Kong's landmass by nearly 1%).

HOK developed the idea for the single, giant processor house, a significant step away from the then prevalent American-based model of driving to separate small terminals. Increased efficiencies were gained, along with a plan that offered more flexibility for future ways in which an airport could be organised and operated. Foster + Partners delivered a marvelously elegant exterior and interior with a limpid quality of light well-matched to the climate of Hong Kong.

Taking the giant processor one step forward is Beijing’s Terminal 3, also designed by Foster + Partners, in conjunction with NACO and ARUP. At the time of opening, it was the largest building by area in the world at nearly one million square metres.

The scale of ambition and speed of execution were breathtaking. As an architectural representation of China’s emergence into the world, coinciding with the hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games, the building captured the mood of its time. In this building, the grand gesture of the diagram is reinforced by a clear roof covering everything, supported by elegant, widely spaced columns.

The ceiling is the surface that unites the building, clearly visible from all the public concourses. The detailing of the roof, cladding and interior finishes embody an "international" feel, using the language of mass production and the machine. Its scale, however, is appropriate to China.



Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) has a capacity of approximately 35mppa, with the original main terminal designed by the Japanese architect Kurokawa, in association with Akitek Jururancang.

The roof gives the impression of a modular tented structure, with giant seams opening up to let in abundant natural light. The shaded, inclined glazed external walls provide panoramic views of the lush vegetation around the main concourses. The ceilings are lined with slatted wood, a conscious reference to Malaysia’s tradition of sustainable wood production.

Again, the roof encloses the spaces, unifying them. Supporting the ceiling are shaped columns clad in Italian marble. They contain a ventilation system and have light beacons at their head. Their form offers order to the spaces, with the granite adding to the effect of a cool, shaded environment.

In the long concourses leading from the departure hall, the lighting is placed in the ceiling in a random manner, contrasting with the restrained, orderly lighting arrangements elsewhere.

A wonderful glazed courtyard, placed in the centre of the satellite, is planted with small forest trees. Although very much a modern building of its time, it is constantly trying to make reference to the country and climate in which it is built.

KLIA was also the first airport to include a purpose built low-cost terminal catering specifically to the ‘no-frills’ segment of the market. By no means a cheap building, it starts to address a key issue that many airports continue to face: How does the architecture and interior design approach reflect the differences between a terminal catering to traditional travellers and one offering flights operated by low-cost airlines, whilst leaving both sets of travellers satisfied with their experience?



Many of the most recent airport terminals are now officially classified as megastructures. Although we have the ability to design and construct these huge buildings, is there a limit to their size? This is one of the most important questions in modern airport design, and the issues include:

• Transportation to/from the terminal is vital. Rail is especially important, as there is a limit to the number of cars that you can bring to a single site.

• The form of terminals is being driven by the increasing number of large airplanes parked at fixed stands and the continued desire to move passengers to and from them in a reasonable time, whilst maintaining efficient aircraft taxiing routes.

• Baggage handling: can the systems get any larger and more complex?

• Size of the building: extensive travel distances within the terminal demand the introduction of more technology, including rapid baggage systems and automated people movers. More expense and greater dependence on the reliability of machinery creates challenges; transfer times, particularly important at airports relying on such traffic for their business case, are made longer and/or more difficult to achieve.

But there are also psychological issues: does the size of the spaces overwhelm the individual and reduce the quality of the travelling experience? Does the massive scale distance the individual from the poetry and romance of air travel by creating only anonymous shopping mall-style promenades, thus denying the opportunity for a real sense of place and a welcome pause in the otherwise continuous motion of long distance travel?

Architects and engineers continue to dazzle with ever more exuberant structures supporting graceful roofs. The buildings are beginning to become more responsive to the environments in which they reside.

In Europe, airport operators are committed to achieving carbon neutrality for their buildings. In America, sustainability is being integrated in innovative ways, with HOK’s terminal for Delta Air Lines at Boston's Logan International Airport earning the first LEED certification and the newly completed Indianapolis International Airport terminal targeting LEED Silver.

This new environmental way of thinking goes beyond the terminal and in some cases the airport site itself. It even extends to how passengers are brought to and from the facility.

And what about eliminating the vehicle drop-off as the dominant feature in front of terminal buildings and, where appropriate, replacing it with vibrant public space, exploiting the connections between the airport and the area it serves?

This also leads to one of the more obvious examples of thinking beyond the airport boundary – the rise of the airport city. The master plan for Hong Kong International Airport, which HOK helped develop, was motivated by making such connections. With the construction of SkyPlaza Terminal 2 (check-in only), a connection was made between air, land and sea.

This connection in turn provides the economic momentum to connect to a mall with shops, restaurants and entertainment facilities. The 36 bay coach station provides a direct connection to Mainland China, and there is also a ferry terminal, a golf course and a second airport hotel. We find ourselves increasingly involved in this type of work, finding new ways to help clients realise the full potential of their asset.

When a client is interested in future-focused design, we can't help but acknowledge that the world does not stand still and that we can only speculate on the travel needs of the next generation.

Standing in the Musee D’Orsay (once the Gare D’Orsay, one of the main railway terminals of Paris), a colleague and I recently admired the fine architecture of the magnificent space, before musing on whether the same fate awaited some of the grand airport structures of today.

ASIA-PACIFIC AIRPORTS//JANUARY-MARCH 2009

Geoff Tudor finds out more about the business development strategy of Japan’s newest airport.

When Nagoya’s Central Japan International Airport opened in February 2005, its management team modestly forecast that it would turn a profit in its fifth year of operations.

The assumption was based on the fact that the $7 billion airport, built on a man-made island in Ise Bay some 35 kilometres from downtown Nagoya, was a bold new venture for the region.

However, they couldn't have been more wrong, as thanks to a combination of showmanship and a truly entrepreneurial spirit, the offshore successor to Nagoya's Komaki Airport, locally dubbed Centrair, showed profits for its first three full fiscal years.

“That’s unprecedented for a civil project of such magnitude,” says CEO Yoshimi Inaba, a former Toyota Motor Corporation board member, who since June 2007 has been piloting the new airport.

The challenge now is to keep this up by boosting flagging domestic and international passenger numbers and rewriting the book on air cargo distribution in the industrial region centred on Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture.

Aichi Expo in 2005 was a major contributor to the first year success, attracting millions of visitors from all over Japan. Apart from passengers, 10 million local sightseers visited Centrair.

But in the second and third years, with Expo’s crowds gone, Centrair – sometimes referred to as Chubu Airport after the Chubu, or central district of Japan – maintained profitability by minimising operation costs and developing commercial activities.

Of the airport’s total income, only 40% is from the aviation side – passenger service charges, landing fees, fuelling services and related activities.

The other 60% is provided by a dazzling range of commercial operations that include everything from car parking to weddings, souvenir sales, duty free shops and food and beverage businesses. There’s even Centrair popcorn.

Since the airport’s conception, it was pitched to the regional community as an attraction. In April this year it reached the 50 million-visitor mark. And when sightseers come to the airport they spend almost $15 each, according to Inaba.

It’s not hard to grasp why. On the fourth floor of the main terminal building two themed shopping and eating areas contain 30 food outlets and 30 shops, five managed directly by Centrair.

Airport amusements Chochin Yokocho or Lantern Alley has the ambiance of an 18th century Japanese post-town, complete with traditional noodle and sushi vendors, but brought up to date with a Starbucks. In a traditional Japanese bathhouse you can soak while watching aircraft take off and land.

Across the floor Renga Dori, or Brick Street, has a distinctly European feel, presenting an attractive mixture of shopping and dining.

Outside is the open air 315-metre long wooden floored Sky Deck, a plane-spotter’s paradise. In summer part of this becomes a beer garden. This season visitors quaffed some 14,000 bottles of ‘Airbrau’, brewed at sister airport Munich and flown in twice weekly by Lufthansa Cargo.

Below the deck is an indoor garden leading to an art gallery zone and a stage area where Toyota robots – hit attractions at the 2005 Expo – give demonstrations four times daily. Revenue raising events take place almost every week featuring concerts, film previews and conferences. “We're not only an airport but also an amusement park,” jokes Inaba.

A new community related project is a ‘Kids Club’, with the idea of nurturing the customers of the future. The club started with a membership limited to 1,000, but demand was so great that it had to be raised to 2,000.

When plans for the airport were being drawn up, three key objectives were laid down. The new airport would be the most eco-friendly, “barrier free” and customer friendly airport in Japan. These principles guided the design and construction.

Subsequently Centrair has quickly received global recognition for its excellence in customer satisfaction. Pick of its awards was being named the world’s best airport handling between 5mppa and 15mppa for three successive years in ACI’s Airport Service Quality (ASQ) awards.

The gateway also received the top award in the 2008 Air Cargo Excellence Survey conducted by Air Cargo World magazine for gateways handling up to 500,000 tonnes of freight yearly.

Inaba claims that Centrair is the only Japanese airport with a “seamless connection” between domestic and international flights, and insists that it is the country’s “only true hub” due to connections to 21 other Japanese cities. And the volume of transit passengers is growing year by year.

But while accolades have accumulated, clouds have been forming in Centrair’s skies.

Since 2005, domestic passenger demand has fallen by about 10%. Original estimates were based on an annual throughput of nearly 8.2 million domestic passengers, but the figure was just 6.5 million last year. In a bid to make up for the shortfall in revenue, Centrair increased the domestic passenger facility charge from $2 to $3 from October.

Komaki Airport actually remains open for domestic scheduled flights by small aircraft, but Inaba insists that this is not a big concern, as long as the balance between the airports is kept as it is now.

In marked contrast to domestic operations, international passenger traffic had been growing steadily until a year-on-year slow down started in mid-2008. Some long-haul airlines have since suspended transpacific and Oceania routes and, of great concern to the airport’s management, air cargo business has not developed as expected.

In March this year Centrair suffered a drastic cut in freighter services when two major Japanese cargo carriers pulled out. From a peak of 54 freighters a week, there are now only 30.

To deal with these issues, Inaba’s team has developed a comprehensive business plan.

Notes Inaba: “Domestic passenger demand decline is a fact, due mainly to competition from high-speed train services. Also, factors deterring international travel include high fuel surcharges and young people are not travelling as much as before. It doesn’t help that many locally based companies are curbing business travel in these difficult economic times.”

Even so, Centrair’s domestic traffic potential is not fully realised and management is working to expand the catchment area. New roads in the region have improved airport access and there are plans to use subsidised bus services from outlying districts.

The biggest international traffic potential, Inaba feels, is for inbound passengers. “This is the most unrealised market we have," he says. The downside is that tourist spots accessible through Nagoya, such as picturesque Takayama and historic Shirakawa, are not well known outside Japan.

“Achieving awareness overseas is going to be a slow, step-by-step process. We have to work together with local authorities, the central government’s Visit Japan Campaign and partner airlines," he says.

Currently the most strategic focus of Centrair’s business planning is cargo. Nagoya and the Chubu area are the industrial heartland of Japan, outstripping Tokyo in the value of the industrial output.

The total estimated air cargo regional demand (export and import) is 700,000 tonnes annually. So airlines expected that there would be huge cargo demand at Centrair, but it did not materialise.

In fact Centrair captures only around 30% today, which amounted to 207,000 tonnes in 2007. According to Inaba, that’s partly due to historical reasons. The old Nagoya airport did little to develop cargo and, when Narita opened in 1978, forwarders built big warehouses there and transported cargo by truck.

This system is now well established and is very difficult to change. The huge economies of scale of this entrenched system mean either more profits for forwarders or cheaper rates for customers.

“But we must change this traditional pattern of goods flow to Narita and to do that we need to do a very convincing job," says Inaba.

Last December Centrair set up a new campaign called ‘Fly Centrair Cargo,’ but just asking shippers to use Centrair is not enough, admits Inaba. “Knowing this, we have developed two new cargo products,” he says. “Centrair Connection Incheon, with Korean Airlines, for goods for destinations in Europe and North America and similarly Centrair Connection Hong Kong with Cathay Pacific to ensure better links in Asia and China.

“Now we can tell customers that although we may not have a direct flight, their cargo can have a connecting flight to many other destinations by just one transit. If we can increase our annual cargo volume to 350,000 to 400,000 tonnes, we can offer better rates.”

As to future expansion, Inaba reports that the future need for a second runway is recognised by local governments, Centrair management and industrial groups in the region, which comprise the Central Japan International Airport Promotion Council. Such a runway would enable 24-hour operation and would boost efficiency, especially at peak times.

“It may take some time to convince the central government and it is difficult to give a timetable,” says Inaba. “We don’t need it in one or two years but we can’t wait 10 years – somewhere in between. Naturally, demand should be there. Most importantly, we also have to ensure that a second runway is sustainable regardless of the investment involved.”

The second runway is planned to be a close parallel to the present runway in order to minimise its environmental impact.

Inaba does, however, concede that the airport’s airline customers could make better use of the gateway’s existing runway by using smaller capacity aircraft on some long-haul routes.

Indeed he even goes as far to say that he believes that some airlines have been guilty of operating aircraft that have been too big for the actual demand at this gateway.

“In future we are counting on the B787, which is the right size for this airport. I believe that many of these ‘lost’ long-haul routes could be revived if the airlines have the proper equipment. That’s why we have to stay in touch with them, hoping that one day they may restore services, including the routes to Australia, New Zealand, the US West Coast, Chicago and Kuala Lumpur that have been suspended."

In fact the B787 is already contributing to the airport. Japanese companies in the Nagoya area supply 35% of the parts of the new ‘Dreamliner’ – huge 'Dreamlifter’ freighters, converted from B747 aircraft, calling regularly at Centrair to collect giant fuselage sections for delivery to the USA.

One day soon, Inaba hopes, the finished aircraft will be returning to Centrair, carrying passengers and freight, like “swallows returning to their nests”.

Asia-Pacific Airports 2008 Issue 3

How does Kansai International Airport’s new CEO, Shinichi Fukushima, plan to take Japan’s third busiest gateway forward? Geoff Tudor reports.

On July 8, just 14 days after taking over as Kansai International Airport’s new CEO, Shinichi Fukushima took part in his first public ceremony, warmly welcoming the first Chinese tourists to arrive from Beijing using new individual visas, an innovation that will boost Japan’s tourism revenues – and bring many new Chinese customers to the airport.

Flashing his jovial smile, he shook hands and joined in souvenir photo sessions with the new arrivals, practicing what he preaches for all his staff to see, “the customer is number one”.

Fukushima will attend many more ceremonies and events in 2009 as Kansai celebrates its 15th anniversary, although he would have wished to have come onboard during better times for the airport.

For with passenger and cargo traffic down – primarily due to the global financial crisis and Swine Influenza fears – and sizeable debts to pay off these are difficult days for Kansai.

The fact that the gateway continues to compete for domestic traffic against both Osaka International Airport (Itami) – which should have closed after Kansai opened in 1994, but remains open due to public pressure – and nearby Kobe Airport doesn’t help.

In fact Kobe Airport, opened in 2006 to serve the 1.

5 million population of Kobe City, is just a 30-minute high-speed ferry ride away.

Indeed, Itami handled 15.3 million passengers in 2008 – equalling the yearly throughput at Kansai – while Kobe handled 2.58 million passengers.

However, in all cases the 2008 passenger totals were down due to the difficult operating conditions.

Throughput at Itami dropped 3.5% and Kobe by 13% while an 8% fall in domestic numbers at Kansai International Airport (KIX) contributed towards an overall decline in passenger numbers of 7.8%.

KIX’s 2008 total of 15.3 million passengers is more than five million down on its record-breaking year of 2000.

But challenges don’t daunt the former Panasonic executive, who is already beginning to initiate reforms and innovations that he hopes will ensure the gateway is in a healthy position to grow when the market picks up again.

Sensationalist newspaper headlines claiming that Kansai – built on a man-made island in Osaka Bay – was sinking have also dogged the new airport.

The truth of the matter is that the designers always knew that the new island would sink a little as it took time to settle and pushed down on the soft clay of the seabed, they just didn’t predict that it would happen as quickly as it did.

Fukushima is pleased to report that this is not a problem at all, as a system of sand drains have stabilised the clay and ‘settlement’ of the island has slowed from 50 centimetres per year in the early stages to just seven centimetres in 2008.

To prevent damage to the passenger terminal building from uneven settlement, an elaborate system of monitoring devices and hydraulic jacks was installed.

Lessons learned in creating the first island were put to good use when the second, larger 545-hectare island was constructed in deeper water.

So far, settlement there is occurring according to predictions.

However, future development of the second island remains on hold, pending government approval.

Opened in 2007, it currently boasts a 4,000-metre long runway primarily used for landings and one taxiway connecting the two islands.

If Kansai International Airport’s Co Ltd (KIAC) is to capitalise on the new runway, new facilities must be developed.

The second phase of development currently focuses on cargo facilities, as those on island one are stretched to capacity, handling around 800,000 tonnes of freight today.

KIAC expects that 10 years from now, annual cargo traffic will be up to 2.5 million tonnes annually.

In a new cargo area, five stands for large freighter aircraft are already completed and in use, but plans for more warehousing, a new passenger terminal and a second connecting taxiway remain on the drawing board.

The new passenger terminal is necessary because the number of international passengers using the gateway is expected to almost double from the 10.1 million handled in 2008 to up to 20 million by 2017.

Further long-term development plans could include facilities for business jets and Low-Cost Carriers (LCCs).

Fukushima has taken over as CEO from Atsushi Maruyama, also a former Panasonic executive, who joined KIAC in June 2003.

Murayama set out by reforming the airport’s bureaucratic management along private sector lines, emphasising responding to customer needs and reinforcing cost reductions.

His organisation-wide action plan took effect in October 2003.

Specific targets were to make a profit, cut costs by three billion yen and trim 50 jobs by 2005.

In fact KIX went into the black in FY2004, achieved cost cuts of 4.9 billion yen and reduced the payroll by 55.Key features of Murayama’s strategy included: • Improving and expanding Kansai’s duty free shopping area through the addition of 10 new shops that included boutiques for seven global brands.

• The opening of the Kanku Lounge and a more exclusive Kanku Club Lounge for Kanku Club cardholders.

Next to them, on the second floor of the passenger terminal, is an area with an round-the-clock convenience store in a section now labelled ‘Area 24’ • Introducing facilities such as the ‘Sky View’ entertainment complex – complete with flight simulator and observation deck – and revamping the F&B facilities in the passenger terminal to encourage local visitors and boost retail revenue • Opening Japan’s first airport pet hotel So what of the future? Kansai Airport has two main missions.

The first is to become a leading gateway to Asia and the rest of the world; second is to become the first international cargo hub airport in Japan, using its assets as the first Japanese airport with multiple long runways, offering operations round the clock.

“To realise these we must strengthen our international competitiveness as a hub airport by not only maintaining but also by increasing our international flight network,” says Fukushima.

“At the same time, we must develop an airport that our customers appreciate and create an atmosphere that encourages our customers to enjoy the services we provide, and to then return.

I want this to be an international airport that is truly well regarded.

” He believes that the key to success is ensuring that all 15,000 airport staff – including KIAC Group’s 1,000 employees – are highly motivated and sensitive to customer needs.

“Immediately after taking over as CEO, I was reminded of how important it is for us to be more internationally minded, so I want to build up the brand of Kansai International Airport,” comments Fukushima.

Proof of high service standards is KIX’s ranking as sixth in the 2009 Skytrax passenger satisfaction survey of the world’s airports, equalling their position the year before

Air Cargo World magazine, a UK trade publication, ranked KIX number one for the third consecutive year in its Air Cargo Excellence Survey in Airports Asia and Middle East category for gateways handling between half a million and a million tonnes of freight annually.

Continuing to improve and innovate, KIAC is investing despite the current poor economic climate.

“We are going ahead with plans to remodel the international transit area because, even in such severe business circumstances, we have to prepare for future demand recovery,” admits Fukushima.

KIAC’s financial base is a major concern.

The airport company has interest bearing debt exceeding $11 billion.

Last year the interest came to a staggering $227 million.

Supported by the local governments and local supporters that include the Kansai Economic Federation, Fukushima would like to talk with the central government on financial restructuring.

Its debt, however, should not be allowed to overshadow the fact that until the start of the global recession, the airport was making a tidy profit from day-to-day operations.

“Up until the first half of FY2008, Kansai was performing very well.

But then came the dramatic and rapid demand decline after the financial crisis,” laments Fukushima.

“We ended FY2008 this March with a net loss of $67.3 million.”

Although KIAC sees revenues declining this year, the company forecasts a consolidated operating profit of $146 million for FY2009, and a net profit of $10 million, which they hope to achieve by keeping costs down.

Despite a glimmer of an improvement in April, in May and June international passenger demand took an additional hit from the fear of Swine Influenza.

Domestic passenger traffic fell as a result of flight cuts.

In May this year, overall international passenger flight frequency was about 8% down on the year before, with the passenger head count down by 26%.

International cargo has been going through a similar slump but is now showing signs of recovery, although the total level of demand remains very low.

May results were 36% down, year on year.

Twice this year, major Japanese carriers Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways have both cut international and domestic services, citing slack demand.

But some foreign airlines have increased frequency on routes or launched new services.

In the second quarter of the year, historically a period of high vacation travel demand, Fukushima was hoping for better performance.

International passenger flights in the peak month of August marked an all-time record high of 609 per week, due to increased frequency by foreign carriers.

“Currently, as cargo means so much to our future development, I’m focusing on future business trends by checking how automobile and electronic goods manufacturers are faring.

Future cargo recovery depends on how soon manufacturers recover,” states Fukushima.

“Luckily, in the Kansai region there’s a large number of hi-tech manufacturers producing ultra-thin plasma panels; in fact, Osaka Bay has the nickname, ‘Panel Bay’.

Demand for these products is growing fast and we are expecting a great deal of cargo from these plants for airlifting to worldwide markets.”

Indeed, KIAC cargo industry analysts expect that there will be enough cargo for about 20 freighter flights a week from 2015.

Fukushima points out that many more leading Japanese high technology equipment makers, pharmaceutical producers and medical equipment makers – all strong air freight users – also have plants here.

In his view, and he acknowledges this may be too optimistic, Fukushima believes that the Osaka region will begin to experience the first signs of economic recovery in 2010 if all of its manufacturing plants remain open.

“This current year and next year will be critical and will put our management under severe pressure”, he says.

KIAC has not created a specific emergency response plan for the current economic downturn but is concentrating on constant cost reduction, while seeking new revenue.

However, to help airlines, the airport is maintaining its landing fee discounts for the time being.

Fukushima is in no doubt when it comes to listing Kansai’s strengths.

“The first big advantage we have is our interface with Asia – including India.

“Our second strength lies in the fact that for the first time in Japan we have two long runways capable of 24-hours a day operation,” he enthuses.

“We are also pollution-free and environmentally friendly.

These are very important features today but will be even more so in future.”

Fukushima was impressed by a recent visit to Dubai International Airport, revealing that he thought the gateway’s facilities were “world class”.

He also admits to being particularly impressed by its facilities for handling shipments of fresh cut flowers between Africa and Japan (and other markets) and the techniques used to control their blooming until they reached their destination.

“In a smaller way we are doing a similar thing here at Kansai, through the export of Japanese agricultural products – especially fruit,” says Fukushima.

“Japan’s agri-products have a good reputation for cleanliness and high quality and they are very popular in some niche markets.

“Shippers can send such cargos out of here late at night so that by the following morning, when the stores open in Shanghai, for example, you can see these products on display.

I would like to enhance this type of business here.

“I think the most significant contribution I can bring to KIAC is to encourage staff to be more motivated and work together on the management targets we have set ourselves.

The human factor is very important, and from that point of view, my experience in personnel management in Panasonic should be very meaningful.

“I am a firm believer in the motto taught to me by Panasonic’s founder, Konosuke Matsushita, who believes that the customer is always number one.

I want all my staff to follow a similar philosophy.”

Fukushima was born in the historic port city of Nagasaki in 1948 and lived there until finishing high school.

From the mid-17th century to the 1850s, Japan was closed to foreign contact, except for a tiny Dutch trading post on Deshima, a man-made island in Nagasaki Bay, which for all this time was the country’s only window on the outside world and the gateway for foreign goods.

“I’ve always been very conscious of that history, and now I want the man-made island of Kansai International Airport to be a major window to the world for 21st Century Japan as well as a key gateway for passengers and goods.”

Asia-Pacific Airports 2009 Issue 3

Tokyo Narita CEO, Kosaburo Morinaka, talks to Geoff Tudor about his development plans for Japan’s international gateway to the world.

Kosaburo Morinaka, president and CEO of Tokyo’s Narita Airport since June 2007, is a man of decision and action.

A few month ago, prompted by an article critical of his airport written by a Tokyo-based British journalist in a Japanese magazine, he contacted the writer directly and visited him in his office in central Tokyo.

Fearful of an unpleasant confrontation at the meeting, the NAA staff accompanying their new boss need not have worried. Morinaka simply wanted the writer, who had complained about Narita’s distance and access from downtown Tokyo, to learn that the airport authority was hard at work on improvements to make the gateway more user-friendly, such as the new high-speed rail link opening in 2010.

He achieved his goal and the atmosphere at the 30-minute meeting was described as “positively congenial”.

Such a visit by an airport boss would be considered unusual anywhere in the world, and in Japan it was exceptional. But it is a good illustration of Morinaka’s individual management style and how he is trying to motivate staff and change the corporate culture at Japan’s biggest international air gateway.

In May this year Narita commemorated 30 years of operations. A month later Morinaka completed his first year as the airport’s president and CEO. By his own account his first year has been a busy one.

“Up to joining NAA, I had been involved in the private sector in the Sumitomo Trading group for 40 years, specialising in basic infrastructure business such as construction and management of power generating plants and desalination plants. The air transport business is another world and the first 12 months went by very quickly,” admits Morinaka.

“However, I have used the airport more than 1,000 times in the past 30 years and that experience has been very useful to me in my new career, although managing the airport needs a totally different perspective.

“Narita has always been an exciting place for me as a traveller and still is, even though I now manage the place. The experience is uplifting. I’m enjoying it,” says Morinaka, his jovial features emphasising his enthusiasm for a job he obviously relishes.

From power plants to airports may seem a big change, but Morinaka doesn’t think so. “Power plants and airports are simple in concept but are actually immensely complex entities needing highly skilled operational managements,” he explains.

“They are both long-term projects not only in the construction phase but also in subsequent operation. And both airport and power plant managements must be environmentally aware and community-friendly.”

The fact that Morinaka was brought in from the private sector seems to demonstrate that there is a certain degree of pressure to open up Japan’s aviation policy.

“As an island country, Japan cannot open up so easily, but I would like to find out what the basic problems are in aviation policy and tackle them as they occur and affect Narita,” he says.

“And I would like also to explore what I can do to co-operate and work together with other airports in the world, especially in the Asia-Pacific region, and with the global network of airlines.”

Asked if he had any preconceptions about the airport business that he has now revised, he points out that the role of Tokyo Narita as a major gateway to Japan has not altered significantly although there are policy changes in the wind.

Says Morinaka: “Since I joined NAA, the general climate surrounding Japan’s national aviation policy has changed, as what is known as the ‘Asia Gateway Plan’ has come into focus. Accordingly, what used to be Japan’s basic airport policy, that Narita should remain the nation’s main international airport, has converged into a ‘metropolitan’ airport plan for the Tokyo region and a form of integration concept for Narita and Haneda.

“In 2010 we will complete the extension of Narita’s second runway, allowing 20,000 more annual slots. At about the same time Haneda’s expansion will be finished enabling 122,000 additional annual slots there, of which up to half could be used for international flights.

“Haneda is facing the probability of fewer domestic passengers in future as the national high-speed train system is extended and becomes increasingly competitive with medium- to long-haul domestic flights. This helps to make a case for increasing international flights there, to use that capacity.”

Indeed Morinaka believes that a “limited number” of international flights could be operated out of Haneda to short- to medium-range destinations in north-east Asia.

He admits that this would even be good for some locals, especially those living in the area south-west of Tokyo, but he is absolutely adamant that this should not involve competing with Narita.

“Narita and Haneda should complement each other with the majority of international flights remaining at Narita,” states Morinaka. “Competing directly against each for business makes no sense.”

Morinaka is, however, modest when pressed for what he hopes to achieve at Narita in future.

“My main concern is how we at NAA can deliver good results and good feelings to our stakeholders, that is our passengers, local communities, employees, airlines and shippers. If we can achieve that, then it follows that our efforts will be seen as good for the country and good for the people in the Narita region.”

On changing the corporate culture of the NAA, Morinaka has made some progress, say colleagues and observers.

“I started off with the intention of continuing with my own original private sector management style and I came up against a brick wall,” admits Morinaka.

“In Sumitomo I had built up a team over nearly 40 years and I knew every detail myself. Narita was built up under the control and management of the Ministry of Transport (now MLITT) and a bureaucratic system, whether good or bad, was well established. What I am thinking now is to use the good points of both systems, to make NAA a more socially acceptable organisation.”

Throughout Narita’s history, he points out, the environment was always a critical issue – it was an important premise to maintain workable relationships with local communities.

“We call ourselves a ‘green airport’ that means we are an environment conscious airport and at the same time we are conscious of the farmers who are living around us,” says Morinaka. “We made public a declaration in 1998 to become an ‘eco airport’ and I am confident that Narita is one of the leading airports in the world from an environment viewpoint.

“For example, back in 2005, we established a noise-based landing charges structure. This is just one example of our environmental initiatives and was basically designed to benefit all parties concerned – airlines, passengers and local communities.

“The principle is that quieter aircraft pay less and as a result noise reduction has progressed and of course together with the current fuel prices crisis, airlines have pressed forward with downsizing aircraft. As a result, landing fee revenue has decreased, but I think this charges system is good for everyone, especially for the local residents.”

The sensitive relationship with the local community has been a fundamental element in the NAA story. Morinaka thinks that the relationship today has never been better.

“Community relations are currently very good and have been for the last five or six years,” he enthuses. “Before dialogue between the airport and the communities got started in the 1990s, the NAA was quite at odds with the local community. But since the dialogue started, both sides have benefited and steadily contact and communication has improved.”

As an example of the good relationship, earlier this year NAA issued a statement to explain that movements at Narita could be increased by 50% – from the present 200,000 to 300,000 – within current operating hours.

The increase was not dependent on technical issues alone, such as air traffic management (ATM) improvements and new taxiways, but crucially needed the agreement of the local communities and residents.

The statement came in response to enquiries by a group of local leaders from the nine townships neighbouring the airport. These leaders have formed a council to inject growth and prosperity in the local communities in conjunction with the growth of Narita in the global air transport network. It illustrates how the relationship has moved forward.

“We have tried to compromise as much as we can and our efforts have been accepted and appreciated. Now more than 99% of the local community are very friendly to and supportive of us,” he says proudly.

“They want us to succeed in increasing aircraft movements and improving convenience and in developing our business in future, because we are such a key part of the local economy. But there are still some who oppose us. We must continue with our efforts to communicate.”

One of the main tasks that Morinaka was expecting to handle soon after taking the helm was the Narita initial public offering (IPO). The NAA was privatised four years ago, but the government holds all the shares and, due to other political issues, the IPO has been put on the back burner and could take place in late 2009 or even 2010, depending on legislation.

“I have told our team to make the necessary plans and preparations so we can go ahead as soon as the government decides,” reveals Morinaka.

In June, the aviation fuel price crisis prompted IATA to write to individual airports requesting cooperation in tackling the issue. Morinaka, elected to the Asia-Pacific board of ACI earlier this year, is sympathetic, to a degree.

Says Morinaka: “As a player in the air transport industry I realise that airlines are suffering from the severe impact of the fuel price increase. But I just want to reiterate that airports are affected just as badly by higher fuel costs and at the same time by downward fluctuations in passenger and cargo demand, which result from economic, political and security inspired instability.

“These factors have a very negative impact on airport revenues and profits. I do understand the sentiment of the airlines and offer my sincere sympathy. But if they ask for one-sided relief, that may be a little off the point.

“From now, I believe, each individual airport will try to have discussions with the airlines concerned and will try to find a suitable solution.”

Morinaka for one admits that he is looking forward to a “sincere discussion” with Narita’s airline customers when NAA begins its own consultation process on landing fees later this year.

I wonder if the airlines are looking forward to the discussions with such enthusiasm?

Asia-Pacific Airports 2008 Issue 2