No flying high for Japan’s post-Covid airports, with tourists greeted by lack of staff and queues

Hundreds of airport workers left the sector when airports shut down in the early stages of the pandemic; even before that, pay and conditions were not the best

As government sets up a special task force, travel expert says problems were ‘avoidable’ and Japan could have done better by watching ‘case studies’ elsewhere

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An aircraft approaches Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. Tourists are once more flocking to Japan, but some entry points are struggling to cope with the influx. Photo: Reuters

Published: 12:00pm, 18 May 2023Updated: 4:43pm, 18 May 2023

The reopening of Japan’s airports has been welcomed by the domestic travel industry and foreign arrivals have soared in recent months, although the return of tourists is being overshadowed by delays in baggage transfers and long queues at security checks due to an acute shortage of ground staff.

Hundreds of airport workers left the sector when the nation’s airports were effectively brought to a standstill in the early stages of the global coronavirus pandemic.

According to the transport ministry, 61 major companies providing airport ground handling staff – everything from the engineers who refuel aircraft to the drivers of transfer buses, baggage handlers, cleaners and security staff – could count on around 21,600 employees in December, down 20 per cent on the figure in March 2019.

Pay for some of these positions was already relatively low, particularly at small regional airports, the Asahi newspaper pointed out, and pay and conditions did not improve when flights were grounded.

The hundreds who left Japan’s airports have not returned now that operations are back on track, meaning that new people need to be taken on and trained, at a time of climbing demand for staff throughout the country’s economy.