Kansai International Airport

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Kansai International Airport Template:Airport codes (ja: 関西国際空港 Kansai Kokusai Kūkō) is an international airport located on an artificial island in Osaka Bay, south of Osaka, Japan. It opened on September 4, 1994.

The airport is a hub for Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways, and Nippon Cargo Airlines. It is the international gateway for the Kansai region, which contains the major cities of Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe. Most domestic flights fly from the older but more conveniently located Osaka International Airport in Itami, or from the newer Kobe Airport.

In the Kansai dialect, Kansai Airport is often called Kankū (関空).

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History

In the 1960s, when the Kansai region was rapidly losing trade to Tokyo, planners proposed a new airport near Osaka and Kobe. Osaka International Airport, located in the densely-populated suburbs of Itami and Toyonaka, 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 confiscated 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.

Image:Wfm kansai overview.jpg A man-made island, 4 km long and 1 km wide, was proposed. Engineers faced the risk of earthquakes (very high) 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.

By then, the island had sunk 8 meters (far more than predicted) and the project became the most expensive civil works project in modern history after 20 years of planning, 3 years of construction and several billion dollars of investment.

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.

In 1995, Kansai Airport was struck by the Kobe earthquake, which was centered just 20 km away and killed 6,433 people on the mainland. 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.

In 2001, the airport was one of ten structures given the "Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium" award by the American Society of Civil Engineers. [1]

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Outlook

Image:Kansaiviewfromplane.JPG The total cost of Kansai Airport so far is $15 billion, which is 40% over budget (mostly due to the sinking problem). The airport is still deeply in debt, losing $560 million in interest every year. Airlines have been kept away by high landing fees (approximately $7500 for a Boeing 747), the second most expensive in the world after Narita's. Partly because of these and other problems, the airport is 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. Also, the opening of Kobe Airport, less than 25 km away, in 2006 is expected to further give KIX competition on domestic flights.

Kansai has been marketed as an alternative to Narita Airport for international travelers from the Greater Tokyo Area. By flying to Kansai from Haneda 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 (just 17 cm in 2002). In 2003, believing that the sinking problem was almost over, the airport operators started the construction of a 4,000m second runway, with an estimated project cost of ¥1.56 trillion (approx. US$15 billion). Since the airport is at its limit on "peak" times, a portion of Phase II is scheduled to become operational in 2007. Later on, the airport is planning to construct a new terminal building, apron, and a third runway.

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Terminal

Image:KansaiAirport Departures.JPG Image:Kansai International Airport June 2005.jpg Image:Kixpier.jpg Image:Kix jp bording lobby.jpg Image:Kansai International Airport - Terminal Interior.jpg

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 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. Mobiles 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.

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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.

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Domestic carriers

Arrivals, departures, ticketing, and baggage claim are all on the second floor.

  • All Nippon Airways (Fukuoka, Goto Fukue, Hakodate, Ishigaki, Kagoshima, Matsuyama, Memanbetsu, Miyako, Miyazaki, Okinawa, Sapporo Chitose, Tokyo-Haneda, Wakkanai)
  • Japan Airlines (Akita, Aomori, Asahikawa, Fukuoka, Fukushima, Hakodate, Kushiro, Memambetsu, Obihiro, Okinawa, Sapporo Chitose, Tokyo-Haneda)
  • Japan Transocean Air (Ishigaki, Okinawa)
  • Skymark Airlines (Tokyo-Haneda)
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Cargo carriers

(Airlines that operate only cargo flights into the airport)

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Ground transportation

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Rail

Image:KansaiAirport Rapit.JPG Kansai Airport is connected by a road/railway bridge to Rinku Town. The lower railway level of the bridge is used by JR and Nankai trains.

JR "Airport Rapid" trains operate to Osaka Station and Kyobashi Station, as well as several intermediate stations on the Hanwa Line and Osaka Loop Line. Direct connections are available to various surface and subway lines within the city. JR also operates the Haruka limited express service to Tennoji, Shin-Osaka and Kyoto Station.

Nankai's trains all terminate at Namba Station on the south side of central Osaka, with subway connections available at Namba and Tengachaya Station. In addition to regular express service, Nankai also offers a high-speed limited express, the Rapi:t.

Plans were drawn up in the late 1980s for an underwater railway connecting Kansai Airport to central Kobe and Kobe Airport, although the extremely high cost of the project led to its indefinite postponement.

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Bus

The upper roadway level of the bridge is part of the Kansai Airport Expressway (関西空港高速道路 Kansai-kuko-kosoku-doro), which connects to the Hanshin Expressway No. 5 Wangan Line and the Hanwa Expressway. Airport limousines operated by Kansai Airport Transportation [2] use these connections to transport passengers to various points in the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto area. Sample one-way travel times and fares:

  • 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
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Hydrofoil

Hydrofoils operated by Pearl Line [3] run between Kansai Airport and Awaji Island. The trip takes 50 minutes and costs ¥2,500 each way. Hydrofoil service between Kansai Airport and Kobe is scheduled to begin in July 2006.

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External links

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de:Flughafen Kansai es:Aeropuerto internacional de Kansai fr:Aéroport international du Kansai is:Alþjóðaflugvöllurinn í Kansai ja:関西国際空港 ko:간사이 국제공항 sv:Kansai internationella flygplats zh:关西国际机场

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