Itami Airport

Itami Airport

Itami Airport (伊丹空港 Itami Kūkō) (IATA: ITM, ICAO: RJOO), officially known as Osaka International Airport (大阪国際空港 Ōsaka Kokusai Kūkō) 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.

Despite its "international" designation, the airport's scheduled passenger air traffic is entirely domestic. Kansai International Airport (27 miles (43 km) away) took over the region's international traffic in 1994 and competes with Itami for domestic traffic. Itami also faces competition from Kobe Airport (16 miles (26 km) away), a smaller domestic airport opened in 2006.

The airport was named after the city of Itami, Hyōgo Prefecture because most of its land is located there. A portion of the airport property is also located in Toyonaka and Ikeda cities of Osaka Prefecture. The terminal complex is located in all three of these cities, and the only access from the Itami side is via a long tunnel that passes below the runway and apron.

Itami Airport has a single terminal building with 21 gates, divided into a "North Terminal" for Japan Airlines and Amakusa and "South Terminal" for All Nippon Airways and Ibex Airlines. The departure and arrival zones of the two terminals are connected by a "Central Block" containing shops, restaurants and a hotel.

The only direct rail connection to the airport is the Osaka Monorail, which stops in the northern suburbs of Osaka, connecting to the Hankyu Takarazuka Line at Hotarugaike and the Kita-Osaka Kyuko Railway (Midosuji Line) at Senri-Chuo.

Itami Airport is directly connected to the Hanshin Expressway Ikeda Route and is five minutes' drive from the Chugoku Expressway, making it possible to reach central Osaka by car or bus in 25 to 30 minutes, central Kobe in 40 minutes and central Kyoto in 55 minutes.