Kansai International Airport

Kansai International Airport

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 Osaka Bay, 38 km (24 mi) southwest of Ōsaka Station, located within three municipalities, including Izumisano (north), Sennan (south), and Tajiri (central), in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The Airport is off the Honshu shore and was designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano. The Airport serves as an international hub for All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines, and Nippon Cargo Airlines, and also serves as a hub for Peach, the first international low-cost carrier in Japan.

Kansai opened 4 September 1994 to relieve overcrowding at Osaka International Airport, which is closer to the city of Osaka and now handles only domestic flights.

The main KIX passenger Terminal l is a single four-story building designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop (Renzo Piano and Noriaki Okabe) and has a gross floor space of 296,043 square metres (3,186,580 sq ft). As of 2008, it is the longest airport terminal in the world, at a total length of 1.7 km (1.1 mi) from end to end. It has a sophisticated people mover system called the Wing Shuttle, which 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.

Terminal 2 is a low-cost carrier (LCC) terminal designed to attract more LCCs by providing lower landing fees than Terminal 1. It is exclusively occupied by Peach. Other LCCs serving Kansai, such as Jetstar Airways, Jetstar Japan, and Cebu Pacific Air, use the main Terminal 1. A significant expansion opened in January 2017; Spring Airlines plans to relocate its international flights to Terminal 2 in March 2017 (Spring Airlines Japan domestic flights will remain in Terminal 1).

Peach requested that Terminal 2 have a simplified design in order to minimize operating costs. The terminal is a single-story building, thus eliminating the cost of elevators. Passageways to aircraft have no air conditioning. The terminal also has no jet bridges, having one boarding gate for domestic departures and one boarding gate for international departures. In case of rain, passengers are lent umbrellas to use as they walk to the aircraft.

Terminal 2 is not directly connected to Terminal 1 or to Kansai Airport Station. Free shuttle buses run between the two terminals, and between Terminal 2 and the railway and ferry stations. It is also possible to walk between the terminals through the KIX Sora Park, a four-hectare park located adjacent to Terminal 2.

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: JR West and Nankai Electric Railway.

JR West operates the Haruka limited express train services for Kansai Airport Station from Tennōji, Shin-Ōsaka, and Kyoto Station. JR West also offers "Kansai Airport Rapid" services for Kansai Airport Station from Ōsaka, Kyōbashi Station, and several stations on the way. Various connections, such as buses, subways, trams, and other railroads, are available at each station.

Nankai operates the rapi:t, a limited express train service to Namba Station on the southern edge of downtown Osaka. Osaka Municipal Subway connections are available at Namba and Tengachaya Station.

Kansai Airport Transportation Enterprise and other bus operators offer scheduled express bus services, called "Airport Limousines", for Kansai International Airport.

Two six story parking structures, called P1 and P2, are located above a railroad terminal station, while the other two level parking facilities, called P3 and P4, are situated next 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.