FedEx calls Japan’s Narita a no-fly zone

FOLLOWING an assessment of local issues, FedEx has pulled airfreight bound for Japan’s Narita airport.

Widespread destruction, a lack of fuel and infrastructural problems have urged FedEx to reverse its decision on 11 March to continue accepting freight to Japan.

“We don’t want to fly freight in and have to store it because we’ll run out of storage space,” Jim McCluskey, a FedEx spokesman, commented, adding that FedEx will continue to monitor the infrastructure in eastern Japan to see when deliveries can resume.

FedEx also has stopped taking deliveries bound for the US territory of Guam; Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands; and the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa, in the Ryukyu Islands south of Tokyo.

United Parcel Service (UPS) resumed Narita flights over the weekend of 12 March while deliveries in some parts of Japan remain suspended.

The Japanese authorities were forced to close Narita and Haneda airports following the earthquake and tsunami. They were reopened on 12 March. Only Sendai Airport, which was directly hit by the tsunami, can be expected to remain closed for some time to come.

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