Tsunami-hit Japan airport to reopen next week
Disaster-hit Sendai Airport, which was closed after being inundated by the March 11 tsunami, will reopen next week, more than a month after the biggest recorded earthquake ever to hit Japan. The opening will provide a boost to an area constrained by road closures and the suspension of bullet train services to Sendai.
All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines on Friday said they would restart flights next week to and from the airport, which will reopen to some commercial services on Wednesday. ANA said in a statement that it would start three daily round trip “relief services” to Tokyo Haneda from April 13.
JAL, which recently emerged from bankruptcy, will restart flights from Haneda and Osaka the same day, though the suspension of some other routes has been extended until the end of May. “As a result of efforts aiding recovery by the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, the self-defence force, the US military and other organisations, the airport is being opened sooner than originally expected,” ANA said in a statement.
The Japanese are the leaders when it comes to disaster recovery! Can you imagine that the airport is open for business in a week already? That would NEVER happen in most other countries. No wonder my mother wanted to move to Japan permanently after living there for six months in the 1950’s! She has always had the highest regard for the Japanese and Japan!