Plane Spotting at Haneda Airport

Tokyo International Airport, widely known as Haneda Airport (HND/RJTT), is the only civil airport inside Tokyo. The airport mainly handles local flight, however, in recent years international flight are getting common. Since the airport is close to the city, it is nice for both travelers and spotters.

How to get there?

Personally speaking, I prefer rail transport so I suggest taking trains to Haneda. The fastest method is taking Tokyo Monorail from Hamamatsucho, which is closer to Tokyo station or Ueno.If you get there from Yokohama or Shinagawa, it's better for you to take the Keikyu Line.

^Tokyo Monorail 10000 Series

Haneda Airport International Terminal Station

What can I spot? Why should I go there?

Mostly local aircraft. Foreign planes are more common at international terminal. It's indeed easy to spot the planes with special liveries here, moreover, observation decks are very close to the planes so spotting is not demanding.

Cathay Pacific Airways

Boeing 777-367ER

B-KPC

All Nippon Airways

Boeing 767-381ER(WL)

JA622A

Where should I spot?

Observation decks, they are located on the top floor of the terminals so they are the most convenient locations.

In the morning, both International Terminal and Terminal 2 (ANA Terminal) observation decks are backlit so you should go to Terminal 1 (JAL Terminal).

Terminal 1 Photos:

Japan Airlines 767s

Japan Airlines 777-300 on taxiway

ANA Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner taking off.

JAL Embraer 170 taking off

Miss the old livery!

In the afternoon, you can consider both Terminal 2 or International Terminal. I prefer International terminal as the runway movement is more interesting, i.e. you can spot both planes from other runways and terminals and planes at Int'l terminal.

International Terminal Photos:

Eva Hello Kitty x ANA Star Wars

Close-up shots are possible at airport terminals in Japan.

The light after 1600 is lovely.

Terminal 2 Photos:

ANA line-up

Terminal 2 Carpark:

Proceed to the top floor when the plane on Terminal 2 ramp cannot be seen from Terminal 2 observation deck but elsewhere. The ideal location is at the north-west corner. Make sure to be careful when you spot here as you may look suspicious to others, especially when the airport is in high security.

Photo:

Government of Canada

Airbus CC-150 Polaris (A310-308)

Summary

Haneda Airport is quite a great place to chill out and spot planes. Although the variety of planes may not be high, the ideal locations make spotting very fun.

#Haneda #HND #PlaneSpotting #Planes