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{{Infobox Airport| name = Kansai International Airport| nativename =| nativename-a = 関西国際空港| nativename-r = Kansai Kokusai Kūkō| image = Kix aerial photo.jpg| image-width =| caption =| IATA = KIX| ICAO = RJBB| type = Public| owner =| operator = Kansai International Airport Co., Ltd.| city-served =
Osaka, Japan| location = Osaka Prefecture,
Japan located on an [artificial island in the middle of
Osaka Bay, off the shore of the city of Sennan, Osaka,
Izumisano, Osaka and the town of
Tajiri, Osaka in
Osaka Prefecture,
Japan. (It should not be confused with Osaka International Airport, which is closer to the city and now handles only domestic flights.)
It is colloquially known as in Japanese.During
Financial year 2006, KIX, which serves the city of Osaka, had 116,475 aircraft movements, of which 73,860 were international (31 countries, 71 cities), and 42,615 were domestic (19 cities). The total number of passengers was 16,689,658 of which 11,229,444 were international, and 5,460,214 were domestic. Freight volume was at 802,162
tonnes total, of which 757,414 t were international (18th in the world), and 44,748 t were domestic. Kansai International Airport Statistics – Kansai International Airport Co., Ltd. The 4,000 meter runway 2 was opened to the public on August 2, 2007. Kansai Airport has become an Asian hub, with 499 weekly flights to Asia, 66 weekly flights to Europe and the
Middle East, and 35 weekly flights to North America.
History
In the 1960s, when the
Kansai region was rapidly losing trade to
Tokyo, planners proposed a new airport near Kobe and Osaka. Osaka International Airport, located in the densely-populated suburbs of Itami, Hyōgo and
Toyonaka, Osaka, was surrounded by buildings; it could not be expanded, and many of its neighbors had filed complaints because of
noise pollution problems.
After the protests surrounding New Tokyo International Airport (now Narita International Airport), which was built with
expropriation land in a rural part of
Chiba prefecture, planners decided to build the airport offshore. Initially, the airport was planned to be built near Kobe, but the city of Kobe refused the plan, so the airport was moved to a more southerly location on Osaka Bay. There, it could be open 24 hours per day, unlike its predecessor in the city. Local fishermen were the only group to protest, but they were silenced by hefty compensation packages. is being built on the unfinished island near the middle of the photo. Central Osaka is in the upper-right corner.A man-made island, 4 km long and 2.5 km wide, was proposed. Engineers needed to overcome the extremely high risks of
earthquakes and typhoons (with storm surges of up to 3 meters).Construction started in
1987. The sea wall was finished in
1989 (made of rocks and 48,000 tetrahedral concrete blocks). Three mountains were excavated for 21 million cubic meters of landfill. 10,000 workers and 10 million work hours over 3 years, using 80 ships, were needed to complete the thirty-meter layer of earth over the sea floor and inside the sea wall. In 1990, a three-kilometer bridge was completed to connect the island to the mainland at
Rinku-Town, at a cost of $1 billion.
The island had been predicted to gradually sink as the weight of the material used to construct the island would cause it to compress downwards. However, by this time, the island had sunk 8 meters, much more than predicted. The project then became expensive civil works project in modern history after 20 years of planning, 3 years of construction and several billion dollars of investment. However, much of what was learned went into the successful artificial islands in silt deposits for New Kitakyushu Airport,
Kobe Airport, and
Chubu International Airport.
In 1991, the terminal construction commenced. To compensate for the sinking of the island, adjustable columns were designed to support the terminal building. These could be extended by inserting thick metal plates at their base. The airport opened in
1994.
On January 17, 1995, Japan was struck by the
Kobe earthquake, whose epicenter was approximately 20 km away from KIX and killed 6,434 people on Japan's main island of
Honshū. The airport, however, emerged unscathed, mostly due to the use of sliding joints in its construction. Even the glass in the windows stayed intact. Later, in 1998, the airport survived a typhoon with wind speeds of up to 200 km/h.
On
April 19, 2001, the airport was one of ten structures given the "Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium" award by the American Society of Civil Engineers. U.S. Engineering Society names Kansai International Airport a Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium – Press release from American Society of Civil Engineers
Outlook
Opened on September 4, 1994, the airport serves as a hub for several airlines such as
All Nippon Airways,
Japan Airlines, and Nippon Cargo Airlines. It is the international gateway for Japan, Kansai region, which contains the major cities of
Kyoto,
Kobe, and
Osaka. Some domestic flights fly from the older but more conveniently located
Osaka International Airport in Itami, Hyogo, or from the newer
Kobe Airport.
The total cost of Kansai Airport so far is $20 billion. This includes the land reclamation, 2 runways, and terminal and facilities. The additional costs were mostly borne initially due to the island sinking, some sinking was expected due to the soft soils of Osaka Bay. However, after construction, the rate of sinkage was considered so severe that the airport was widely criticized as a notorious structural engineering disaster; however, the sinking has now slowed and the airport's viability seems no longer in jeopardy as some of the initial worst-case projections had predicted. The airport had been deeply in debt, losing $560 million in interest every year. Airlines had been kept away by high landing fees (approximately $7500 for a Boeing 747), the second most expensive in the world after Narita International Airport's. The airport was often referred as being a white elephant. Nowadays, after deep discounts, the number of flights is increasing.
On
February 17, 2005, Chubu Centrair International Airport opened in Nagoya, just east of Osaka. The opening of the airport is expected to increase competition between Japan's international airports. Despite this, passenger totals were up 11% in 2005 over 2004, and international passengers increased to 3.06 million in 2006, up 10% over 2005. The opening of Kobe Airport, less than 25 km away, in
2006 is expected to further give KIX competition on domestic flights, as well as nearby Tokushima Airport in
Shikoku will have its runway lengthened in 2007 enough to accommodate some jumbo jets.
The main rationale behind the expansions is to compete with Incheon International Airport and
Hong Kong International Airport as a gateway to Asia, as
Tokyo area airports are severely congested. However, with the regional trend in open skies agreements being signed, it is possible that all airports can see increases in traffic.
Kansai has been marketed as an alternative to Narita Airport for international travelers from the Greater Tokyo Area. By flying to Kansai from Tokyo International Airport and connecting to international flights there, travelers can save the additional time required to get to Narita: up to one and a half hours for many residents of Kanagawa Prefecture and southern Tokyo.
The rate of sinking has slowed down markedly in recent years, falling from 50 cm during 1994 to 7 cm in 2006. Kansai International Airport Co., Ltd. – Condition of Settlement The airport was at its limit during peak times, owing especially to freight flights, so portion of Phase II expansion—the second runway—was made a priority. The reason for construction of The 2nd runway– Kansai International Airport Co., Ltd. Thus, in 2003, believing that the sinking problem was almost over, the airport operators started the construction of a 4,000 m second runway and terminal. The second runway opened August 2,
2007 but without the originally planned terminal portion, now postponed to a later date. This lowered the project cost to ¥910 billion (approx. US$8 billion), saving ¥650 billion from the initial estimate. - Daily Yomiuri Online - Opening of new KIX runway celebrated The additional runway development, which was opened on the 2 August in time for the
IAAF World Championships in Athletics in
Osaka, has expanded the airport size to 10.5 km². Further into the future, the airport is planning to construct a new terminal building, several aprons, runway 6C/24C with a length of 3500 meters, a new cargo terminal and expanding the airport size to 13 km². However these plans are being postponed by the Japanese Government due to economical reasons. The new runway is only used for landings. The airport now expects to handle 129, 000 flights during the year 2007, an increase of 11% compared to 2006 figures of 116, 475 flights. The new runway allowed the airport to start 24 hour operations in September 2007. "Kansai opens its Second Runway", Airports - September/October 2007 (Key Publishing), P7"24 hours operation from 1st September 2007" from Sankei Newspaper (Japanese) on 24,Aug,2007
Terminal
KIX has a single four-story terminal designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop (
Renzo Piano and
Noriaki Okabe). It is the longest airport terminal in the world, at a total length of 1.7 km from end to end: a sophisticated
people mover system called Wing Shuttle moves passengers from one end of the pier to the other.The terminal's roof is shaped like an
airfoil. This shape is used to promote air circulation through the building: giant
air conditioning ducts blow air upwards at one side of the terminal, circulate the air across the curvature of the ceiling, and collect the air through intakes at the other side. Mobile (sculpture)s are suspended in the ticketing hall to take advantage of the flowing air.
The ticketing hall overlooks the international departures concourse, and the two are separated by a glass partition. During Kansai's early days, visitors were known to throw objects over the partition to friends in the corridor below. The partition was eventually modified to halt this practice.
International carriers
International arrivals go to immigration and baggage claim on the first floor. International departures are ticketed on the fourth floor and board from the third floor.
North Wing
(Gates 1–16, 101–103)
- Air Canada (Vancouver)
- Air Tahiti Nui (Papeete)
- Alitalia (Milan-Malpensa)
- All Nippon Airways (Beijing, Dalian, Guam, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Seoul-Incheon, Shanghai-Pudong, Shenyang, Qingdao, Xiamen)
- Asiana Airlines (Busan, Seoul-Incheon)
- Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong, Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan)
- China Southern Airlines (Dalian, Guangzhou, Harbin, Shenyang)
- EVA Air (Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan)
- Finnair (Helsinki)
- Garuda Indonesia (Denpasar/Bali, Jakarta)
- KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (Amsterdam)
- Korean Air (Busan, Jeju, Seoul-Incheon)
- Malaysia Airlines (Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur)
- MIAT Mongolian (Ulaanbaatar)
- Nepal Airlines (Kathmandu)
- Northwest Airlines (Detroit, Guam, Honolulu, Saipan , Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan)
- Qatar Airways (Doha)
- Shanghai Airlines (Shanghai-Pudong)
- Thai Airways International (Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Manila, Phuket)
- Turkish Airlines (Istanbul-Atatürk)
- United Airlines (San Francisco)
- Uzbekistan Airways (Tashkent)
South Wing
(Gates 26–41, 111–113)
- Aircalin (Noumea)
- Air China (Beijing, Dalian, Shanghai-Pudong)
- Air France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
- Air India (Delhi, Hong Kong, Mumbai)
- Air New Zealand (Auckland, Christchurch, Seoul-Incheon 16 November, 2008)
- China Airlines (Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan)
- China Eastern Airlines (Beijing, Nanjing, Kunming, Qingdao, Shanghai-Pudong, Yantai)
- Continental Airlines
- EgyptAir (Cairo)
- Emirates Airline (Dubai)
- Hainan Airlines (Haikou)
- Japan Airlines (Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Beijing, Busan, Dalian, Denpasar/Bali, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, London-Heathrow, Qingdao, Seoul-Incheon, Shanghai-Pudong, Singapore)
- Lufthansa (Frankfurt)
- Philippine Airlines (Manila)
- Qantas
- Jetstar Airways (Brisbane, Cairns, Sydney)
- Singapore Airlines (Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Singapore)
- Vietnam Airlines (Ho Chi Minh City)
- Vladivostok Air (Vladivostok : Only summer)
- Xiamen Airlines (Hangzhou, Xiamen)
Domestic carriers
Arrivals, departures, ticketing, and baggage claim are all on the second floor.
(Gates 16–20, 201–202)
- All Nippon Airways (Fukuoka, Goto Fukue, Hakodate, Ishigaki, Kagoshima, Memanbetsu, Miyazaki, Okinawa, Sapporo Chitose, Tokyo-Haneda, Wakkanai)
(Gates 20–26, 211–212)
- All Nippon Airways (Matsuyama, Miyakojima, Tokyo-Haneda)
- Japan Airlines (Akita, Aomori, Asahikawa, Fukuoka, Fukushima, Hakodate, Kushiro, Memambetsu, Obihiro, Okinawa, Sapporo Chitose, Tokyo-Haneda)
Cargo carriers
(Airlines that operate only cargo flights into the airport)
Ground transportation
Rail
. One way (for adult) 1,390 yen.Kansai International Airport is connected only by the Sky Gate Bridge R, a road / railroad bridge to
Rinku Town and the mainland. The lower railroad level of the bridge is used by two railroad operators:
West Japan Railway Company (JR West) and
Nankai Electric Railway.
JR West operates
Haruka (train), the limited express train services for Kansai Airport Station from Tennoji Station,
Shin-Osaka Station and Kyoto Station. JR West also offers "Kansai Airport Rapid" services for
Kansai Airport Station from
Osaka Station and Kyobashi Station (Osaka), as well as several stations on the way. Various connections, such as buses, subways, trams, and other railroads, are available at each station.
Nankai operates
rapi:t, a limited express train service to
Namba Station on the southern edge of downtown Osaka. Subway connections are available at Namba and Tengachaya Station.
Railroad plans were drawn up in the late 1980s for an underwater railway connecting Kansai Airport to downtown Kobe, Hyogo and Kobe Airport, although the extremely high cost of the project led to its indefinite postponement.
Bus
Kansai Airport Transportation Enterprise and other code-sharing bus operators offer scheduled express bus services, called "Airport Limousines", for Kansai International Airport. The followings are estimated travel time and fare for each destination:
- Wakayama: 40 min., ¥1,100
- Osaka Station: 60 min., ¥1,300
- Sannomiya Station: 65 min., ¥1,800
- Universal Studios Japan: 70 min., ¥1,300
- Itami Airport: 70 min., ¥1,700
- Nara: 85 min., ¥1,800
- Kyoto: 100 min., ¥2,300
- Himeji: 130 min., ¥3,000
There are other destinations.
Parking
Two six-story parking structures, called P1 and P2, are above a railroad terminal station, while the other two level parking facilities, called P3 and P4, are adjacent to "Aeroplaza", a hotel complex.
The airport is only accessible from the Sky Gate Bridge R, a part of Kansai Airport Expressway. The expressway immediately connects to
Hanshin Expressways Route 5, "Wangan Route", and
Hanwa Expressway.
Ferry Service
In July 2007 a high-speed ferry service (run by Kaijo Access Co.) began operating between Kobe Airport and KIX. It takes 30 minutes and costs 1500 yen for adults and 700 yen for children. From KIX the ferry service runs from first departure at 7:15 am to final departure at 22:30 pm, and from Kobe Airport it runs from 6:30 am to 21:45 pm.
Previous services to Sumoto on Awaji Island have been discontinued.
Other facilities
- Thermal power station (Kansai Electric Power Company energy center. 40,000kw)
- Central heating and cooling plant
- Sewage disposal plant (disposing 20,000 m³ per a day)
- Incineration plant
- Japan Coast Guard Kansai airport Coast Guard air base
- Japan Coast Guard Special Security Team Base
- Osaka international post office (treating international postal matters about 19,000 tone per a year)
- Oil tanker berths (3 berths) and Fuel Supply center
- Airport access bridge ("The Sky Gate Bridge R")
- :The longest Truss bridge in the world. 3,750 m. It is double decker,upper is road,lower is railroad.
Trivia
- Until the construction of KIX, Osaka Prefecture was the smallest prefecture (by area) in Japan. The man-made island added just enough land to make Osaka larger than Kagawa Prefecture, now the smallest prefecture.
- KIX was awarded "Monuments of the Millennium" by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
- KIX ranked 4th overall in the Airport of the Year 2006 awards named by Skytrax (a research company U.K.).
- The basic and detailed design engineering works in addition to the later construction management phase of both the Baggage Handling System (BHS) and international cargo facilities, were awarded in part to the Japan Branch of the American design-build engineering company, The Austin Company.
References
External links
- KIX operations website in English
- KIX corporate website
- KIX development website
- History of KIX
- World Airport Guide: Kansai International Airport
- About the project of Kansai International Airport
- Kansai airport faces competition - Japan Times editorial, August 10, 2007
{{Infobox Airport| name = Kansai International Airport| nativename =| nativename-a = 関西国際空港| nativename-r = Kansai Kokusai Kūkō| image = Kix aerial photo.jpg| image-width =| caption =| IATA = KIX| ICAO = RJBB| type = Public| owner =| operator = Kansai International Airport Co., Ltd.| city-served = Osaka, Japan| location =
Osaka Prefecture,
Japan located on an [artificial island in the middle of Osaka Bay, off the shore of the city of Sennan, Osaka, Izumisano, Osaka and the town of
Tajiri, Osaka in
Osaka Prefecture, Japan. (It should not be confused with Osaka International Airport, which is closer to the city and now handles only domestic flights.)
It is colloquially known as in Japanese.During
Financial year 2006, KIX, which serves the city of
Osaka, had 116,475 aircraft movements, of which 73,860 were international (31 countries, 71 cities), and 42,615 were domestic (19 cities). The total number of passengers was 16,689,658 of which 11,229,444 were international, and 5,460,214 were domestic. Freight volume was at 802,162
tonnes total, of which 757,414 t were international (18th in the world), and 44,748 t were domestic. Kansai International Airport Statistics – Kansai International Airport Co., Ltd. The 4,000 meter runway 2 was opened to the public on August 2, 2007. Kansai Airport has become an Asian hub, with 499 weekly flights to
Asia, 66 weekly flights to Europe and the
Middle East, and 35 weekly flights to North America.
History
In the 1960s, when the Kansai region was rapidly losing trade to
Tokyo, planners proposed a new airport near
Kobe and Osaka. Osaka International Airport, located in the densely-populated suburbs of Itami, Hyōgo and Toyonaka, Osaka, was surrounded by buildings; it could not be expanded, and many of its neighbors had filed complaints because of
noise pollution problems.
After the protests surrounding New Tokyo International Airport (now Narita International Airport), which was built with
expropriation land in a rural part of Chiba prefecture, planners decided to build the airport offshore. Initially, the airport was planned to be built near Kobe, but the city of Kobe refused the plan, so the airport was moved to a more southerly location on Osaka Bay. There, it could be open 24 hours per day, unlike its predecessor in the city. Local fishermen were the only group to protest, but they were silenced by hefty compensation packages. is being built on the unfinished island near the middle of the photo. Central Osaka is in the upper-right corner.A
man-made island, 4 km long and 2.5 km wide, was proposed. Engineers needed to overcome the extremely high risks of earthquakes and typhoons (with
storm surges of up to 3 meters).Construction started in
1987. The sea wall was finished in 1989 (made of rocks and 48,000 tetrahedral concrete blocks). Three mountains were excavated for 21 million cubic meters of landfill. 10,000 workers and 10 million work hours over 3 years, using 80 ships, were needed to complete the thirty-meter layer of earth over the sea floor and inside the sea wall. In
1990, a three-kilometer bridge was completed to connect the island to the mainland at Rinku-Town, at a cost of $1 billion.
The island had been predicted to gradually sink as the weight of the material used to construct the island would cause it to compress downwards. However, by this time, the island had sunk 8 meters, much more than predicted. The project then became expensive civil works project in modern history after 20 years of planning, 3 years of construction and several billion dollars of investment. However, much of what was learned went into the successful artificial islands in silt deposits for
New Kitakyushu Airport,
Kobe Airport, and
Chubu International Airport.
In 1991, the terminal construction commenced. To compensate for the sinking of the island, adjustable columns were designed to support the terminal building. These could be extended by inserting thick metal plates at their base. The airport opened in 1994.
On
January 17, 1995, Japan was struck by the
Kobe earthquake, whose
epicenter was approximately 20 km away from KIX and killed 6,434 people on Japan's main island of
Honshū. The airport, however, emerged unscathed, mostly due to the use of
sliding joints in its construction. Even the glass in the windows stayed intact. Later, in 1998, the airport survived a typhoon with wind speeds of up to 200 km/h.
On
April 19, 2001, the airport was one of ten structures given the "Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium" award by the
American Society of Civil Engineers. U.S. Engineering Society names Kansai International Airport a Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium – Press release from American Society of Civil Engineers
Outlook
Opened on
September 4,
1994, the airport serves as a hub for several airlines such as
All Nippon Airways,
Japan Airlines, and Nippon Cargo Airlines. It is the international gateway for Japan,
Kansai region, which contains the major cities of
Kyoto, Kobe, and
Osaka. Some domestic flights fly from the older but more conveniently located
Osaka International Airport in Itami, Hyogo, or from the newer
Kobe Airport.
The total cost of Kansai Airport so far is $20 billion. This includes the land reclamation, 2 runways, and terminal and facilities. The additional costs were mostly borne initially due to the island sinking, some sinking was expected due to the soft soils of Osaka Bay. However, after construction, the rate of sinkage was considered so severe that the airport was widely criticized as a notorious structural engineering disaster; however, the sinking has now slowed and the airport's viability seems no longer in jeopardy as some of the initial worst-case projections had predicted. The airport had been deeply in debt, losing $560 million in interest every year. Airlines had been kept away by high landing fees (approximately $7500 for a Boeing 747), the second most expensive in the world after Narita International Airport's. The airport was often referred as being a white elephant. Nowadays, after deep discounts, the number of flights is increasing.
On February 17, 2005, Chubu Centrair International Airport opened in Nagoya, just east of Osaka. The opening of the airport is expected to increase competition between Japan's international airports. Despite this, passenger totals were up 11% in 2005 over 2004, and international passengers increased to 3.06 million in 2006, up 10% over 2005. The opening of
Kobe Airport, less than 25 km away, in 2006 is expected to further give KIX competition on domestic flights, as well as nearby
Tokushima Airport in
Shikoku will have its runway lengthened in 2007 enough to accommodate some jumbo jets.
The main rationale behind the expansions is to compete with
Incheon International Airport and Hong Kong International Airport as a gateway to Asia, as
Tokyo area airports are severely congested. However, with the regional trend in
open skies agreements being signed, it is possible that all airports can see increases in traffic.
Kansai has been marketed as an alternative to Narita Airport for international travelers from the Greater Tokyo Area. By flying to Kansai from
Tokyo International Airport and connecting to international flights there, travelers can save the additional time required to get to Narita: up to one and a half hours for many residents of Kanagawa Prefecture and southern Tokyo.
The rate of sinking has slowed down markedly in recent years, falling from 50 cm during 1994 to 7 cm in 2006. Kansai International Airport Co., Ltd. – Condition of Settlement The airport was at its limit during peak times, owing especially to freight flights, so portion of Phase II expansion—the second runway—was made a priority. The reason for construction of The 2nd runway– Kansai International Airport Co., Ltd. Thus, in 2003, believing that the sinking problem was almost over, the airport operators started the construction of a 4,000 m second runway and terminal. The second runway opened August 2,
2007 but without the originally planned terminal portion, now postponed to a later date. This lowered the project cost to ¥910 billion (approx. US$8 billion), saving ¥650 billion from the initial estimate. - Daily Yomiuri Online - Opening of new KIX runway celebrated The additional runway development, which was opened on the 2 August in time for the
IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Osaka, has expanded the airport size to 10.5 km². Further into the future, the airport is planning to construct a new terminal building, several aprons, runway 6C/24C with a length of 3500 meters, a new cargo terminal and expanding the airport size to 13 km². However these plans are being postponed by the Japanese Government due to economical reasons. The new runway is only used for landings. The airport now expects to handle 129, 000 flights during the year 2007, an increase of 11% compared to 2006 figures of 116, 475 flights. The new runway allowed the airport to start 24 hour operations in September 2007. "Kansai opens its Second Runway", Airports - September/October 2007 (Key Publishing), P7"24 hours operation from 1st September 2007" from Sankei Newspaper (Japanese) on 24,Aug,2007
Terminal
KIX has a single four-story terminal designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop (
Renzo Piano and Noriaki Okabe). It is the longest airport terminal in the world, at a total length of 1.7 km from end to end: a sophisticated
people mover system called Wing Shuttle moves passengers from one end of the pier to the other.The terminal's roof is shaped like an
airfoil. This shape is used to promote air circulation through the building: giant air conditioning ducts blow air upwards at one side of the terminal, circulate the air across the curvature of the ceiling, and collect the air through intakes at the other side.
Mobile (sculpture)s are suspended in the ticketing hall to take advantage of the flowing air.
The ticketing hall overlooks the international departures concourse, and the two are separated by a glass partition. During Kansai's early days, visitors were known to throw objects over the partition to friends in the corridor below. The partition was eventually modified to halt this practice.
International carriers
International arrivals go to immigration and baggage claim on the first floor. International departures are ticketed on the fourth floor and board from the third floor.
North Wing
(Gates 1–16, 101–103)
- Air Canada (Vancouver)
- Air Tahiti Nui (Papeete)
- Alitalia (Milan-Malpensa)
- All Nippon Airways (Beijing, Dalian, Guam, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Seoul-Incheon, Shanghai-Pudong, Shenyang, Qingdao, Xiamen)
- Asiana Airlines (Busan, Seoul-Incheon)
- Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong, Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan)
- China Southern Airlines (Dalian, Guangzhou, Harbin, Shenyang)
- EVA Air (Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan)
- Finnair (Helsinki)
- Garuda Indonesia (Denpasar/Bali, Jakarta)
- KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (Amsterdam)
- Korean Air (Busan, Jeju, Seoul-Incheon)
- Malaysia Airlines (Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur)
- MIAT Mongolian (Ulaanbaatar)
- Nepal Airlines (Kathmandu)
- Northwest Airlines (Detroit, Guam, Honolulu, Saipan , Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan)
- Qatar Airways (Doha)
- Shanghai Airlines (Shanghai-Pudong)
- Thai Airways International (Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Manila, Phuket)
- Turkish Airlines (Istanbul-Atatürk)
- United Airlines (San Francisco)
- Uzbekistan Airways (Tashkent)
South Wing
(Gates 26–41, 111–113)
- Aircalin (Noumea)
- Air China (Beijing, Dalian, Shanghai-Pudong)
- Air France (Paris-Charles de Gaulle)
- Air India (Delhi, Hong Kong, Mumbai)
- Air New Zealand (Auckland, Christchurch, Seoul-Incheon 16 November, 2008)
- China Airlines (Taipei-Taiwan Taoyuan)
- China Eastern Airlines (Beijing, Nanjing, Kunming, Qingdao, Shanghai-Pudong, Yantai)
- Continental Airlines
- Continental Micronesia (Guam, Saipan)
- EgyptAir (Cairo)
- Emirates Airline (Dubai)
- Hainan Airlines (Haikou)
- Japan Airlines (Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Beijing, Busan, Dalian, Denpasar/Bali, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Hanoi, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, London-Heathrow, Qingdao, Seoul-Incheon, Shanghai-Pudong, Singapore)
- Lufthansa (Frankfurt)
- Philippine Airlines (Manila)
- Qantas
- Jetstar Airways (Brisbane, Cairns, Sydney)
- Singapore Airlines (Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Singapore)
- Vietnam Airlines (Ho Chi Minh City)
- Vladivostok Air (Vladivostok : Only summer)
- Xiamen Airlines (Hangzhou, Xiamen)
Domestic carriers
Arrivals, departures, ticketing, and
baggage claim are all on the second floor.
(Gates 16–20, 201–202)
- All Nippon Airways (Fukuoka, Goto Fukue, Hakodate, Ishigaki, Kagoshima, Memanbetsu, Miyazaki, Okinawa, Sapporo Chitose, Tokyo-Haneda, Wakkanai)
(Gates 20–26, 211–212)
- All Nippon Airways (Matsuyama, Miyakojima, Tokyo-Haneda)
- Japan Airlines (Akita, Aomori, Asahikawa, Fukuoka, Fukushima, Hakodate, Kushiro, Memambetsu, Obihiro, Okinawa, Sapporo Chitose, Tokyo-Haneda)
Cargo carriers
(Airlines that operate only cargo flights into the airport)
Ground transportation
Rail
. One way (for adult) 1,390 yen.Kansai International Airport is connected only by the Sky Gate Bridge R, a road / railroad bridge to
Rinku Town and the mainland. The lower railroad level of the bridge is used by two railroad operators:
West Japan Railway Company (JR West) and Nankai Electric Railway.
JR West operates
Haruka (train), the limited express train services for Kansai Airport Station from
Tennoji Station,
Shin-Osaka Station and Kyoto Station. JR West also offers "Kansai Airport Rapid" services for
Kansai Airport Station from Osaka Station and Kyobashi Station (Osaka), as well as several stations on the way. Various connections, such as buses, subways, trams, and other railroads, are available at each station.
Nankai operates
rapi:t, a limited express train service to Namba Station on the southern edge of downtown Osaka. Subway connections are available at Namba and
Tengachaya Station.
Railroad plans were drawn up in the late 1980s for an underwater railway connecting Kansai Airport to downtown
Kobe, Hyogo and Kobe Airport, although the extremely high cost of the project led to its indefinite postponement.
Bus
Kansai Airport Transportation Enterprise and other code-sharing bus operators offer scheduled express bus services, called "Airport Limousines", for Kansai International Airport. The followings are estimated travel time and fare for each destination:
- Wakayama: 40 min., ¥1,100
- Osaka Station: 60 min., ¥1,300
- Sannomiya Station: 65 min., ¥1,800
- Universal Studios Japan: 70 min., ¥1,300
- Itami Airport: 70 min., ¥1,700
- Nara: 85 min., ¥1,800
- Kyoto: 100 min., ¥2,300
- Himeji: 130 min., ¥3,000
There are other destinations.
Parking
Two six-story parking structures, called P1 and P2, are above a railroad terminal station, while the other two level parking facilities, called P3 and P4, are adjacent to "Aeroplaza", a hotel complex.
The airport is only accessible from the Sky Gate Bridge R, a part of Kansai Airport Expressway. The expressway immediately connects to
Hanshin Expressways Route 5, "Wangan Route", and
Hanwa Expressway.
Ferry Service
In July 2007 a high-speed ferry service (run by Kaijo Access Co.) began operating between Kobe Airport and KIX. It takes 30 minutes and costs 1500 yen for adults and 700 yen for children. From KIX the ferry service runs from first departure at 7:15 am to final departure at 22:30 pm, and from Kobe Airport it runs from 6:30 am to 21:45 pm.
Previous services to Sumoto on Awaji Island have been discontinued.
Other facilities
- Thermal power station (Kansai Electric Power Company energy center. 40,000kw)
- Central heating and cooling plant
- Sewage disposal plant (disposing 20,000 m³ per a day)
- Incineration plant
- Japan Coast Guard Kansai airport Coast Guard air base
- Japan Coast Guard Special Security Team Base
- Osaka international post office (treating international postal matters about 19,000 tone per a year)
- Oil tanker berths (3 berths) and Fuel Supply center
- Airport access bridge ("The Sky Gate Bridge R")
- :The longest Truss bridge in the world. 3,750 m. It is double decker,upper is road,lower is railroad.
Trivia
- Until the construction of KIX, Osaka Prefecture was the smallest prefecture (by area) in Japan. The man-made island added just enough land to make Osaka larger than Kagawa Prefecture, now the smallest prefecture.
- KIX was awarded "Monuments of the Millennium" by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
- KIX ranked 4th overall in the Airport of the Year 2006 awards named by Skytrax (a research company U.K.).
- The basic and detailed design engineering works in addition to the later construction management phase of both the Baggage Handling System (BHS) and international cargo facilities, were awarded in part to the Japan Branch of the American design-build engineering company, The Austin Company.
References
External links
- KIX operations website in English
- KIX corporate website
- KIX development website
- History of KIX
- World Airport Guide: Kansai International Airport
- About the project of Kansai International Airport
- Kansai airport faces competition - Japan Times editorial, August 10, 2007
Kansai International Airport - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kansai International Airport (関西国際空港, Kansai Kokusai Kūkō?) (IATA: KIX, ICAO: RJBB) is an international airport located on an artificial island in the middle of ...
Kansai International Airport | Airport Map
Discover Kansai; Recommended Links; Transit Tours from Kansai Airport; Air Cargo
Kansai International Airport | Access Information
Kansai International Airport is situated 50 km from the center of Osaka city. It is easily accessible by road, railway and high-speed ferry. Major Transport Networks in the Kansai ...
Kansai International Airport (KIX/RJBB) Osaka Airport Technology
News and project information on the Kansai International Airport Expansion - Osaka Bay, Japan ... Kansai International Airport (KIA) is pushing forward with an expansion programme ...
Kansai International Airport (KIX/RJBB) Osaka Airport Technology
An aerial view of the artifical island on which the Osaka airport is based. ... An aerial view of the artifical island on which the Osaka airport is based.
Kansai Airport Terminal - Renzo Piano - Great Buildings Online
Kansai Airport Terminal by Renzo Piano architect, at Osaka, Japan, 1994, in the Great Buildings Online.
Kansai International Airport travel guide - Wikitravel
Open source travel guide to Kansai International Airport, featuring up-to-date information on attractions, hotels, restaurants, nightlife, travel tips and more. Free and ... ...
Kansai International Airport (KIX)
About the Kansai International Airport (KIX). ... When staying at a ryokan, which (Japanese style) meals would you prefer to be included?
Kansai International Airport - Wikimedia Commons
English: Kansai International Airport, is an international airport located on an artificial island in the middle of Osaka Bay, off the shore of Sennan district of Osaka, Japan.
Kansai International Airport | Aviation | Arup
Supported by Arup, Italian architect Renzo Piano designed the mile long elegantly arched terminal passenger terminal building at Kansai Airport at Osaka in Japan.