With Tokyo's 2020 Summer Olympics fast approaching, the Japanese government has asked the US Air Force if civilian planes could use one of their nearby airfields to take some of the burden off Tokyo's two major airports.
Tokyo's two main airports, Narita and Haneda, will be taxed to the brink. Already some of the busiest terminals on the planet, Narita handles, on average, 111,318 passengers per day and Haneda 233,997 per day, judging from 2017 statistics.
With around 10 million domestic and foreign visitors expected in Tokyo during the 2020 games, which will take place between July 24 and August 25, and 40 million additional visitors throughout the year, the Japanese government's spared no expense readying its infrastructure for the waves of tourists. Fortune reported last month that Tokyo has sunk $25 billion into modernization and construction projects related to the games, covering everything from bullet train upgrades to massive Wi-Fi installations.
However, some fear even that might not be enough. Enter: the US Air Force, which owns the massive Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo, and which has said it will consider any detailed proposal for shared civilian use of the airfield.
“Any future commitments of specific US military support to the Olympics and Paralympics will be balanced against operational readiness concerns and Alliance obligations,” US Forces Japan spokesperson Air Force Col….
