Number of international flights at Narita Airport is less than half of pre-corona six months after easing of border measures

It has been 10 days and half a year since the resumption of acceptance of foreign tourists due to the relaxation of the new coronavirus's border measures, but the number of international passenger flights at Narita Airport is less than half of what it was before the corona, and especially the Chinese routes are affected by the "zero corona" policy. 1/4 of the total.

Tenants such as restaurants in the airport are only able to operate about 60% of what they were before Corona, and officials expect Chinese customers to return soon.

According to the Narita Airport Company, the number of departures and arrivals of international passenger flights in October this year was more than 6,800, which is 47% of the same period in 2019 before Corona.

By route

, Pacific routes such as the United States and Canada accounted for 67%

, Asian routes such as Vietnam and Singapore accounted for 66%

, and South Korea routes accounted for 55%

.

On the other hand, the number of departures and arrivals on China routes, which had the highest number of departures and arrivals as a country before the corona, was only 24%, and the Narita Airport Company believes that this is the effect of the continued "zero corona" policy with strict restrictions on movement.

The delayed recovery in flight numbers has had a major impact on airport tenants such as restaurants, souvenir shops, and daily necessities stores.

Before Corona, there were more than 460 stores, but as of the 3rd of this month, 87 stores, which is nearly 20%, have closed.

Some of the remaining stores are still closed, and currently only about 60% of the stores are open before the coronavirus, and airport officials are hoping that Chinese customers will return soon. I'm here.

the customer is

Customers at Narita Airport also expressed their desire to reopen the store.

A male customer who visited the airport said, "Since foreign tourists are coming to Japan, I thought that the shops would be open more, but I was surprised that they were closed more than I expected." I was.

Before she left for Cambodia, the woman said, "She doesn't have a place to buy daily necessities right before she leaves, so I hope people will come back soon and the store will open."

Duty-free shops Hope for the return of tourists from China

One of the duty-free shops in Narita Airport, "Fa-So-La TAX FREE AKIHABARA," said that about half of its sales were from Chinese customers before COVID-19, but the number of passenger flights decreased. Sales temporarily fell to less than 10% of what they were before the spread of infection.

The number of passengers has been increasing since it resumed accepting foreign tourists half a year ago, but sales have remained at about half of what it used to be, as the resumption of flights to China has not progressed as expected.

We increased the number of cash registers in anticipation of many foreign tourists visiting, but some of them are not being used.

Hayato Ito, general manager of NAA Retailing Sales Department 1, which operates the store, said, "The purchasing power of customers from China was originally very high, and there were so-called 'explosive purchases', so it's a big loss that there are no such customers. I want you to go back to normal as soon as possible and enjoy shopping."