Tokyo has started discussions on future use of its aging airport in a western city of the metropolis.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government set up a committee to put together a plan to rebuild Chofu Airport. The group's first meeting was held behind closed doors on Thursday.

External experts and officials from local authorities attended as members.

Officials say the committee discussed challenges in rebuilding the airport and roles it should play.

The group plans to solicit requests from residents and users. It will also study ways to improve the airport's functions as a disaster response base and have it win the approval of locals.

The committee aims to come up with a concrete plan by around next May.

Chofu Airport was confiscated by US forces after World War Two.

The facility was returned to Japan in 1973, and its management was handed over to the metropolitan government in 1992.

The airport handles about 13,000 takeoffs and landings per year, including regular flights to and from remote islands, as well as flights for surveying and photographing.

Metropolitan government official Watanabe Masaya says more than 30 years have passed since the capital took charge of the airport's operation.

He expressed hope that it will undergo thorough safety measures and become a place that is loved by Tokyo residents.