Typhoon Strands More Than 5,000 People at Tokyo’s Narita Airport
Typhoon Faxai was located around Iwaki in Fukushima prefecture, heading northeast at about 30 kilometers per hour.
(Bloomberg) -- More than 5,000 passengers are stranded at Japan’s Narita international airport as highways were closed off and train services were suspended after a powerful typhoon hit the nation’s capital.
That number is expected to rise until the last flight arrives at about 11 p.m., with no notice so far from the rail and highway operators on when services and access will return, a spokesman for the airport said. Shuttle buses to and from Narita, located about 65 kilometers (40 miles) northeast of central Tokyo, were suspended.
Typhoon Faxai was located around Iwaki in Fukushima prefecture, heading northeast at about 30 kilometers per hour as of 3 p.m. local time, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. Its landfall early Monday caused wide disruptions to morning commute in Tokyo.
Keisei Electric Railway Co., which operates trains connecting Narita and downtown Tokyo, has suspended its train service between Tsudanuma and Narita airport due to disconnected cable and fallen trees, while East Japan Railway Co. has also canceled its services to Narita. ANA Holdings Inc. halted 55 domestic flights. Japan Airlines Co. has said it suspended 41 flights, affecting 11,350 passengers.
The disorder comes as Japan prepares for a sharp rise in visitors with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics just around the corner. East Japan Railway and Keisei Electric Railway will expand their schedules in order to accommodate later night flights, the airport operator said last month.
Narita airport is the main international gateway to Japan by traveler numbers.
--With assistance from Kana Nishizawa.
To contact the reporters on this story: Yuji Okada in Tokyo at yokada6@bloomberg.net;Jeff Sutherland in Tokyo at jsutherlan13@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kazunori Takada at ktakada17@bloomberg.net, Young-Sam Cho
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