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3. IN ANSWER TO ROGERS' QUESTIONS YAMAJI SAID THAT ALL THE OBSTACLES TO OPENING NARITA HAD NOW BEEN OVERCOME IN ONE WAY
OR ANOTHER. IT REMAINED ONLY TO DECIDE ON THE DATE FOR OPENING
THE NEW AIRPORT AND ON HOW AND WHEN A MINISTERIAL STATEMENT SHOULD BE MADE.
4. AS REGARDS THIS THE MAIN CONSIDERATION WAS THAT HIS MINISTER WAS EXPECTING TO BE MOVED FROM HIS PRESENT POST AS PART OF A CABINET RESHUFFLE AFTER THE DIET SESSION ENDED ON 25 NOVEMBER.
HE WAS ANXIOUS TO MAKE HIS NAME BY FORMALLY ANNOUNCING THE OPENING OF NARITA AIRPORT BEFORE THEN. WHILE HE (YAMAJI) HAD BEEN CAREFUL NOT TO GET INVOLVED IN THE QUESTION OF WHAT DATE FOR THE FORMAL OPENING WOULD BE ANNOUNCED SINCE THIS MEANT THAT HE COULD TRUTHFULLY SAY THAT HE DID NOT KNOW
IT WOULD BE SOME TIME IN MARCH 1978.
THE PREDICTIONS WERE THAT
5. ROGERS REMINDED YAMAJI THAT THE BRITISH AIRLINES WERE BY
NO MEANS ANXIOUS TO MOVE TO NARITA. NOT ONLY WAS IT EXPECTED
THAT, DUE TO THE DISTANCE AND THE CONGESTION ON THE ROADS, THE CHECK-IN TIME IN TOKYO WOULD NEED TO BE SOME FOUR-AND-A-HALF HOURS BEFORE THE SCHEDULED TIME FOR TAKE-OFF, BUT THERE WERE ALSO PROBLEMS OVER THE AIRPORT CHARGES AND OTHER MATTERS.
6.
YAMAJI REPLIED THAT HE WAS AWARE OF THE COOLNESS OF MOST
AIRLINES TOWARDS THE OPENING OF NARITA. HOWEVER THIS HAD NOW
BECOME A POLITICAL ISSUE. MOREOVER, THE JAPANESE COULD SEE NO MEANS OF SETTLING THEIR DISPUTE WITH THE UNITED STATES WITHIN
THE CONSTRAINTS IMPOSED BY THE SHORTAGE OF SLOTS'' AT HANEDA. THERE WAS TO BE A SPECIAL CABINET MEETING TO TAKE A DECISION WITHIN THE NEXT FEW DAYS, BUT HE DID NOT THINK IT REALISTIC TO EXPECT THAT THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT WOULD NOW HOLD BACK.
USER CHARGES AT NARITA.
7.
ROGERS POINTED OUT THAT IN THAT EVENT THERE COULD BE SERIOUS' COMPLAINTS (IN WHICH THE UK MIGHT REGRETTABLY FIND ITSELF RANGED
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ON THE SAME