Kansai International Airport
Overview
International airport
An international airport is any airport that can accommodate flights from other countries and are typically equipped with customs and immigration facilities to handle these flights to and from other countries...
located on an artificial island
Artificial island
An artificial island or man-made island is an island or archipelago that has been constructed by people rather than formed by natural means...
in the middle of Osaka Bay
Osaka Bay
Osaka Bay is a bay in western Japan. As an eastern part of the Inland Sea, it is separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Kii Channel and from the neighbor western part of the Inland Sea by the Akashi Strait...
, 38 km (23.6 mi) southwest of Ōsaka Station
Osaka Station
is a station on the West Japan Railway Company located in the Umeda district in Kita-ku, Osaka, Japan. It is the city's main rail terminal in the north....
, located within three municipalities, including Izumisano
Izumisano, Osaka
is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan.As of 2010, the city has an estimated population of 100,022 and the density of 1,820 persons per km². The total area is 55.03 km².The city is home to northern portion of Kansai International Airport...
(north), Sennan
Sennan, Osaka
is a city located in Osaka, Japan.As of April 30, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 65,315, with 25,182 households and the density of 1,347.25 persons per km². The total area is 48.48 km².The city was founded on 1 July 1970....
(south), and Tajiri
Tajiri, Osaka
is a town located in Sennan District, Osaka, Japan.As of 2009, the town has an estimated population of 7,909 and a density of 1,595 persons per km². The total area is 4.96 km².It is the smallest town in Osaka Prefecture...
(central), in Osaka Prefecture
Osaka Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the Kansai region on Honshū, the main island of Japan. The capital is the city of Osaka. It is the center of Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto area.- History :...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. The airport is off the Honshu
Honshu
is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...
shore. The airport serves as an international hub
Airline hub
An airline hub is an airport that an airline uses as a transfer point to get passengers to their intended destination. It is part of a hub and spoke model, where travelers moving between airports not served by direct flights change planes en route to their destinations...
for All Nippon Airways
All Nippon Airways
, also known as or ANA, is one of the largest airlines in Japan. It is headquartered at the Shiodome City Center in the Shiodome area in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It operates services to 49 destinations in Japan and 35 international routes and employed over 14,000 employees as of May 2009...
, Japan Airlines
Japan Airlines
is an airline headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan. It is the flag carrier of Japan and its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Tokyo International Airport , as well as Nagoya's Chūbu Centrair International Airport and Osaka's Kansai International Airport...
, and Nippon Cargo Airlines
Nippon Cargo Airlines
, or NCA, is a cargo airline based in the Onarimon Yusen Building in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It operates scheduled cargo services in Asia and to Europe and the North America. Its main base is Narita International Airport outside Tokyo.- History :...
. Peach
Peach (airline)
Peach Aviation Limited is a low-cost airline based in Japan...
, the first international low-cost carrier
Low-cost carrier
A low-cost carrier or low-cost airline is an airline that generally has lower fares and fewer comforts...
in Japan, plans to make Kansai its main hub starting in 2012.
It is colloquially known as in Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
.
Kansai opened in 1994 to relieve overcrowding at Osaka International Airport
Osaka International Airport
or Osaka-Itami International Airport is the primary domestic airport for the Kansai region of Japan, including the major cities of Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe. It is classified as a first class airport....
, which is closer to the city of Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
and now handles only domestic flights.
