Siva Govindasamy: August 2010 Archives

Japan's gateway to the world, Narita International Airport has for years lagged behind its rivals when it comes to ease of access, eating and shopping options. But this could soon change when Tokyo's Haneda airport, the smaller of the city's two airports and primarily a domestic flight hub, opens with a gleaming new international terminal on October 21 to tap into a surge in customer numbers expected when the much anticipated new runway opens.

Below are some pictures Haneda were nice enough to share with us of the new terminal.

The "Edo Market Place" modelled after a street from the Edo Period

The red gate which greets guests at the escalators

Duty free shops

Following today's announcement that Singapore's Tiger Airways is joining Thai Airways to form a Bangkok-based subsidiary, the betting is on where the low-cost carrier's next base would be.

The carrier has previously looked at South Korea (where it still does not fly to) and the Philippines, but both plans fell through and it continued with Singapore and later on Australia.

Here is an idea though - why not Japan? All Nippon Airways (ANA) is looking for a foreign partner to help it form a low-cost carrier, and Tiger's expertise could help the Japanese carrier.

Sure, there will be numerous bureaucratic hurdles to cross, but it could be a win-win situation.

ANA's domestic heft could help overcome the local regulators, and Tiger would be able to help start proper low-cost operations in a country (and region in Northeast Asia) that is starved of low fares.

Tiger's desire to set up "profitable and sustainable" foreign bases could bear fruit in Japan.