Chubu Airport Will Include All the Creature Comforts

February 19, 2004

Chubu Airport Will Include All the Creature Comforts
Japan Times, Japan

NAGOYA (Kyodo) Friendliness, simplicity, freedom from
worry and a bustling atmosphere are the buzz words for
the passenger terminal at Central Japan International
Airport, which is slated to open next February.
 
A worker checks a moving walkway in the passenger
terminal of Central Japan International Airport. 

Toshiya Nakano, of the airport operating company's
public relations department, said, "The largest
feature of the new airport is the adoption of a
universal design for easy use by anybody, a design
more advanced than barrier-free construction."

The departure area of the four-story terminal building
will be on the third floor and arrivals on the second.

The railway station next to the terminal building is
on a level halfway between the arrival and departure
floors and linked to them by stepless escalators,
enabling passengers to use luggage carts directly to
and from the station.

Inside the terminal there will be moving walkways to
limit the actual walking distance to boarding gates to
less than 300 meters for those who do not want to
walk.

The walkways are 1.8 meters wide, including handrails,
allowing plenty of room for passengers and baggage.

The terminal's north wing is for domestic flights and
the south wing for international flights, and no
shuttle bus will be required for passengers to move
from domestic to international planes.

After hearing from a welfare group representing
vision-impaired people that same-color walls and
floors are hard to distinguish, the company adjusted
the color scheme.

In addition, all the terminal's toilet facilities can
be used by people in wheelchairs.

On the third floor under the observation deck will be
a Queen Alice French restaurant, a chain especially
popular with young women, and a Turandot Chinese
restaurant -- both outlets being the two chains' first
presence in the central Japan (Chubu) region.

The restaurants command a good view of departing and
arriving planes and airport officials hope they will
attract not just passengers and people seeing them off
but couples on dates.

On the fourth floor, a shopping area with an Edo
Period post-town image will offer local goods and
dishes.

One of the shopping area's attractions will be a
bathing facility overlooking the outside, commanding a
view of the sun setting on Ise Bay.

"We would like to reduce landing and other airport
fees by getting revenues from visitors other than
passengers," an official said.

The airport will also be a source of jobs, such as in
the terminal building and related facilities, nearby
hotels and companies making in-flight meals, and air
cargo firms with offices near the freight terminal.


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