People at Narita International Airport in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, Aug. 14, 2026. Photo by Reuters

Since opening in 1978, Narita has added new terminals regularly over the years.

But this makes it inconvenient for transfer passengers, who often have to take shuttle buses between the various terminals.

To solve this problem, the airport operator plans to merge the three terminals into one, making connections easier.

According to The Mainichi newspaper, the operator first presented the single-terminal concept in September 2022 at a meeting with the governor of Chiba Prefecture.

More proposals were unveiled at a meeting in Tokyo on July 6, 2026.

Three terminals at Narita International Airport. Photo courtesy of Narita Airport

They included closing the current Narita Airport train station at Terminal 1 and building a new one under the terminal to be built south of Terminal 2.

The plan also includes adding about 30 new parking spots with jet bridges, bringing the total to around 100.

Customs and passenger processing will gradually move into this central structure.

The airport's total floor area will increase from 970,000 square meters to about 1.1 million square meters.

The airport also plans to build a new 3,500-meter third runway and extend runway B by 1,000 meters to 3,500 meters by March 2029.

Kyodo News reported that these upgrades would increase the airport's annual flight capacity from 340,000 to 500,000 and passenger capacity from 57 million a year to 75 million.