Japan landing permits

01Which flights need a permit

Private non-revenue flights need no landing permit at an airport of entry, although domestic legs and flights to airports that are not airports of entry do. Charter flights always need a landing permit, typically with about three business days' notice, and each domestic charter leg needs its own application. Operators flying commercially to Japan for the first time also go through a safety audit, which takes a month or more.

Aircraft registered in ICAO member states need no overflight permit. Non-ICAO-registered aircraft and aircraft with experimental certificates do.

02Slots, parking and curfews

Slots are mandatory at the major airports. Tokyo Haneda (RJTT) is open 24 hours to business aviation, but daytime slots are scarce and parking is limited to five days. Tokyo Narita (RJAA) has more slots and parking, with a curfew from 2300 to 0559 local. Plan 30 days or more ahead for Tokyo at busy times, and around 14 days for regional airports.

Osaka Kansai (RJBB) and Nagoya Chubu (RJGG) are open 24 hours with customs and immigration available.

03Documents for a Japan trip

Prepare:

• General declaration and passenger manifest
• Advance passenger information (names, nationalities, dates of birth, passport numbers), submitted by the handler
• Immigration and customs forms
• AOC, aircraft certificates and insurance, for charter permits

Crew do not need visas for Japan, whatever their nationality. Passengers who need a visa cannot obtain one on arrival.

04How we handle Japanese permits

Send us the aircraft, routing and schedule. Our OCC checks the current Japanese requirements for your flight type, prepares the request, files it and follows it up until the permit number is issued. We then pass it to the crew and the flight plan, and revise it if the schedule moves.

We arrange the permits for the rest of the routing in the same trip file, with overflight permits for the countries you cross and landing permits at your destination.