THE JAPANESE Government has approved plans to spend '3.6 trillion ($34 billion) on a series of airport projects, including a new airport at Kanto.
The bulk of the funds - '2.83 trillion - has been earmarked for airport construction, but '200 billion has also been pledged for feasibility studies into construction of a third airport in the Tokyo area.
No site has been chosen yet, but it is thought that the transport ministry has narrowed its choice to one of three sites around Tokyo Bay. The ministry says that it is also seriously considering a floating airport for Tokyo.
Aside from the new Kanto airport, funds for the new five-year airport programme budget include assistance for projects such as a new '600 billion runway at Kansai International.
In the same week that the Government revealed its airport spending plans, Kansai International Airport President Tsuneharu Hattori announced that the company will now be able to pay shareholder dividends before 2007.
The company had originally planned to start dividend payments in 2003, but had to delay the plan because of a heavier-than-expected burden of interest payments and depreciation costs, company officials say.
The airport has been suffering subsidence problems and requires heavy remedial expenditure. To add to the airport's financial woes, the number of international flights to Kansai have been half of what the airport had hoped for, mainly because of high landing fees imposed at the airport.
Hattori made the dividend announcement, at a briefing held for investors, as he sought additional investments for an expansion project, involving construction of the second runway.
Source: Flight International
