Watching Tokyo Haneda live
Asia's busiest airport: four runways on reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay, one standing on piers.
The layout
Haneda sits on reclaimed land at the mouth of the Tama River, on the edge of Tokyo Bay. It has four runways, named by letter: A (16R/34L) and C (16L/34R) run roughly north–south, B (04/22) crosses them, and D (05/23) stands partly on piers out in the bay so as not to block the river. Three terminals serve the field: Terminal 1 for Japan Airlines, Terminal 2 for All Nippon Airways and some international flights, and Terminal 3 for the rest of the international traffic.
It is Japan's busiest airport and one of the busiest in the world, handling domestic trunk routes that are among the most flown anywhere.
How the flow works
Haneda's flows are complicated by the city to the north and the bay to the south. In north-wind operations, landings come in over the bay; in south-wind operations during the afternoon, arrivals descend over central Tokyo itself on routes introduced in 2020, passing over Shinjuku and Shibuya before touching down. The four runways are assigned by role, with the D runway taking many of the departures toward the south.
Domestic flights dominate the morning and evening, with the shuttles to Sapporo, Fukuoka, Osaka and Okinawa running every few minutes; the international departures cluster in the late evening and small hours.
What to watch for
JAL and ANA between them field 787s, A350s and 777s even on domestic routes, so widebodies taxi past each other all day, while Skymark, Solaseed, AirDo and Starflyer add colour. Watch the D runway: aircraft appear to take off straight out of the water. The Kawasaki industrial waterfront glows across the river at night, and typhoon season, from late summer, can shut the field for a day at a time.
The observation decks on Terminals 1 and 2 are among the finest in the world; the miniature gives you the same view of the A and C runways, from higher up.
More airports
- LAXLos Angeles International AirportFour parallel runways beside the Pacific, and the busiest airport on the US west coast.
- ORDChicago O'Hare International AirportEight runways, two giant hubs, and weather that keeps everyone on their toes.
- ATLHartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International AirportThe busiest airport on Earth: five parallel runways and an arrival every minute.
- DXBDubai International AirportA380s all day at the busiest international hub in the world.
- LHRLondon Heathrow AirportTwo runways running flat out, Terminal 5 at the west end.
- JFKJohn F. Kennedy International AirportCrossing runway pairs on Jamaica Bay, the AirTrain circling the terminals.
- SANSan Diego International AirportOne runway between the bay and downtown, and the steepest approach in the country.
- AMSAmsterdam Airport SchipholSix runways four metres below sea level, and a fifteen-minute taxi to the Polderbaan.
- DFWDallas/Fort Worth International AirportSeven runways on a site the size of Manhattan, Skylink threading the half-moon terminals.
- HNDTokyo Haneda AirportAsia's busiest airport: four runways on reclaimed land in Tokyo Bay, one standing on piers.
- BKKSuvarnabhumi AirportThree parallel runways around one vast terminal on the marsh east of the city.
- GRUSão Paulo/Guarulhos International AirportSouth America's busiest airport: two parallel runways on the plateau north-east of the biggest city in the hemisphere.
- SYDSydney Kingsford Smith AirportAustralia's busiest airport: two parallel runways reaching out into Botany Bay, and a third across them.
- SINSingapore Changi AirportThree parallel runways on reclaimed land at the eastern tip of the island, and the best-run hub in the world.
- HKGHong Kong International AirportThree parallel runways on an island built for the purpose, between the sea and the mountains of Lantau.