At the time, the construction of Osaka's new Kansai International Airport (KIX) was the biggest civil project ever undertaken. However, Osaka already had an airport at the time, known as Itami (ITM). With this in mind, it is worth asking why the new facility was built and what impact did it have? Let's take a look back and see.
The problem with Osaka's original airport
Back in the late 1960s, the Kansai region of Japan found itself losing trade, development, and firms to the more significant and growing Tokyo region. To help make Osaka and Kobe more attractive, they proposed the construction of a new international airport to rival the then-under-development second airport of Toyko. This new facility would later become Narita International Airport (NRT).
Osaka's original Itami Airport was also facing overcrowding as jet-age air travel became more popular. With the development of bigger aircraft like the Boeing 747 and the arrival of short-haul Boeing 737s that made rapid frequencies possible, the city needed to consider the possibility of expanding Itami Airport. Failing this, a new airport would likely be the only solution to meet the growing capacity.
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As it happened, the issue with the first idea was that the Itami Airport was situated in the densely populated areas of Itami and Toyonaka. This meant that it was surrounded by buildings, and thus was impossible to expand. This meant, therefore, that the planners needed a new facility somewhere else in the region.
Planning the new airport
At first, developers and government officials wanted to build the new airport near Kobe. It made sense, as the city didn't have a large international airport, and passengers wouldn't have to fly far to travel to Osaka and Kobe. However, this plan never came to fruition, as it ran into significant problems almost right away.
Specifically, the city of Kobe itself rejected the plans for the large international airport. Sensing an opportunity, the planners then moved the airport to the southern bay of Osaka Prefecture. The advantage was that here, by being away from all residential suburbs and land, the airport would be able to operate 24 hours a day.
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With this in mind, they planned an artificial island that would be 4 km (2.5 miles) long and 2.5 km (1.6 miles) wide for the new airport. It would require sophisticated engineering to have a solid foundation for the runways and buildings and to withstand the risks of natural phenomena like typhoons, waves, and earthquakes.
These special design features would actually come into play during an earthquake many years later. While the city suffered significant damage, the airport survived unscathed (although the facility has been flooded by a typhoon).
Building the airport
The ground was finally broken in 1987, a good twenty years after the project began. It would take over three years to build the island and use the total mass of three nearby mountains. To connect the island to the mainland, the team constructed a 3 km (1.86-mile) bridge (which itself cost a hefty one billion dollars).
Once they had finished building the island, the airport construction began, which took another four years. It would have two runways, two terminals, a cargo facility, and cost over $20 billion to build. However, the years of hard work and extensive investment ultimately paid off, as the airport dramatically changed aviation in Japan.
Changing the aviation landscape of Japan
For one, it immediately took over all international arrivals to Osaka, rendering the original Itami Airport a strictly domestic-only facility. At the peak of its performance in 2019, the airport recorded 29.4 million passengers, making it the third busiest in Japan. The airport has also become an international hub for ANA and Japan Airlines. Recent years have seen passenger numbers drop, but they are now rising again.
The construction of this project would be well studied, and it has ended up serving as the template for other island airports around the world. A notable example is Hong Kong International Airport (HKG), as well as, ironically, Kobe Airport (UKB). This facility opened in 2006 on an artificial island 8 km (5 miles) from Kobe.
What do you make of Osaka Kansai International Airport? Have you ever flown into or out of this facility? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!
Source: Kansai Airports