ID :
175246
Wed, 04/13/2011 - 17:58
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/175246
The shortlink copeid
Sendai Airport partially resumes domestic flights after quake
MORIOKA, Japan, April 13 Kyodo - Sendai Airport partially resumed domestic flight operations on Wednesday after it was submerged by a tsunami following a massive earthquake last month, with a Japan Airlines flight arriving from Tokyo's Haneda airport in the morning.
The airport opening is expected to make it easier for volunteers and others from Tokyo and its vicinity, as well as western Japan, to visit the disaster-hit areas and to accelerate relief activities there.
The first Japan Airlines flight arrived at Sendai Airport shortly after 8 a.m., while airline staff at the airport greeted passengers at the aircraft parking apron.
One of the passengers, Tomiko Yoshida, 64, said in tears, ''I was at a loss for words seeing the devastated areas from the plane.''
''I would like to thank the people who restored the airport,'' said Yoshida, who returned home from China to see her 96-year-old mother-in-law, who is in the hospital in Sendai.
Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airlines will run a total of six shuttle flights per day between the airport in the Miyagi Prefecture capital and Haneda, as well as Itami airport serving Osaka during daytime hours, airport authorities said.
The commercial operations at the airport were suspended after the March 11 quake-tsunami disaster caused severe damage to the control tower and the terminal building and submerged the runways.
After undergoing some restoration work, the airport has been used by the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and U.S. military to transport relief supplies.
Meanwhile, East Japan Railway Co. resumed early Wednesday bullet train services between Shin-Aomori Station in Aomori Prefecture and Morioka Station in Iwate Prefecture on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line after being suspended following the magnitude 9.0-quake.
The train operator, known as JR East, restarted bullet train services between Shin-Aomori and Morioka Station, both in Iwate Prefecture, on March 22, and between Morioka and Ichinoseki Station, also in Iwate, last Thursday, but suspended services following a strong aftershock on the day.
JR East said it plans to resume bullet train services between Morioka and Ichinoseki around April 24, and between Sendai and Fukushima around April 27, while planning to resume services between Ichinoseki and Sendai in early May, which will enable journeys on the entire stretch of the Tohoku Shinkansen Line between Shin-Aomori and Tokyo.
The airport opening is expected to make it easier for volunteers and others from Tokyo and its vicinity, as well as western Japan, to visit the disaster-hit areas and to accelerate relief activities there.
The first Japan Airlines flight arrived at Sendai Airport shortly after 8 a.m., while airline staff at the airport greeted passengers at the aircraft parking apron.
One of the passengers, Tomiko Yoshida, 64, said in tears, ''I was at a loss for words seeing the devastated areas from the plane.''
''I would like to thank the people who restored the airport,'' said Yoshida, who returned home from China to see her 96-year-old mother-in-law, who is in the hospital in Sendai.
Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airlines will run a total of six shuttle flights per day between the airport in the Miyagi Prefecture capital and Haneda, as well as Itami airport serving Osaka during daytime hours, airport authorities said.
The commercial operations at the airport were suspended after the March 11 quake-tsunami disaster caused severe damage to the control tower and the terminal building and submerged the runways.
After undergoing some restoration work, the airport has been used by the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and U.S. military to transport relief supplies.
Meanwhile, East Japan Railway Co. resumed early Wednesday bullet train services between Shin-Aomori Station in Aomori Prefecture and Morioka Station in Iwate Prefecture on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line after being suspended following the magnitude 9.0-quake.
The train operator, known as JR East, restarted bullet train services between Shin-Aomori and Morioka Station, both in Iwate Prefecture, on March 22, and between Morioka and Ichinoseki Station, also in Iwate, last Thursday, but suspended services following a strong aftershock on the day.
JR East said it plans to resume bullet train services between Morioka and Ichinoseki around April 24, and between Sendai and Fukushima around April 27, while planning to resume services between Ichinoseki and Sendai in early May, which will enable journeys on the entire stretch of the Tohoku Shinkansen Line between Shin-Aomori and Tokyo.
