Kansai International Airport
The departures hall at Kansai Airport, as viewed from the fourth floor ticketing area. Note the distinctive airfoil-shaped roof, designed by Renzo Piano.
Kansai International Airport (IATA airport code: KIX) (関西国際空港; Kansai Kokusai Kūkō) is an international airport nearby Osaka, Japan, located on a man-built island in Osaka Bay. It is often called Kansai Kūkō (関西空港, Kansai + Kūkō airport), or, in the Kansai-ben dialect, Kankū (関空).
Because Osaka International Airport (大阪国際空港), or Itami Airport (伊丹空港), is located in the densely-populated cities of Itami and Toyonaka, the noise pollution has been a social issue for years. To avoid this, the Japanese government built a new international airport for the Kansai region, which opened on 4 September, 1994.
It was intented to be a hub airport for East Asia air traffic, but the airport has only one runway and functions poorly as a hub. Airlines have also been kept away by the high landing fees, which (even after recent discounts) at approximately $7500 for a Boeing 747 make the airport the second most expensive in the world, losing only to New Tokyo International Airport (Narita Airport) in Narita, Japan. Domestic passengers tend to prefer the most conviniently located Osaka International Airport. When the controversial Kobe Airport opens, even less passengers may stop over at Kansai for domestic flights.
Kansai International Airport has a single four-story terminal, which is the world's longest building. Arrivals and domestic departures are on the first floor, and international departures on the second: the third floor is a shopping and restaurant mezzanine, while the fourth floor houses the ticketing area. A sophisticated people mover system moves passengers from one end of the mile-long pier to the other.
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2 Second Floor: Domestic Carriers 3 Cargo Carriers 4 Building Kansai Airport 5 Ground Transportation 6 External Links |
In the 1960s Kansai was losing trade to Tokyo. An airport near Osaka and Kobe was needed. Osaka airport was surrounded by buildings and could not be expanded. Neighbors were angry of noise. Tokyo Narita protests showed the degree of opposition to near-city airports in Japan. Initially, the airport was planned to be built in offshore of Kobe, but the city of Kobe refused the plan. Decision to build an airport "in the sea" was made. Located in Osaka Bay it could be open 24 hours per day. Only fishermen protested but they were silenced by hefty compensations.
Engineers faced the risk of earthquakes (worst in the world) and typhoons (sea surge of 3 meters).
A man-made island project was proposed (1 x 4 kilometers).
Construction started in 1987, the sea wall was finished in 1989 (made of rocks and 48,000 pieces of 4-pointed concrete blocks), 3 mountains were excavated for earth (21 million cubic meters of earth), 10,000 workers, 10 million workhours, 3 years, 80 ships, 30 meter layer over the sea floor (inside the sea wall), 3 km bridge built to connect the island ($1 bn, completed 1990).
By 1990, the island had sunk 8 meters (far more than predicted) and the project became the most expensive blunder in human history after 20 years of planning, 3 years of construction and several billion dollars invested.
1991 - Start of the terminal construction (the longest building in the world). Island sinking was solved by adjustable-length columns on which the terminal sits.
Total cost, $15 billion, 40% over budget (mostly due to sinking problems), still in debt ($560 million in annual interest). However, the rate of sinking has slowed down markedly in the recent years (17 cm in 2002), and believing that the bottom is finally being reached the airport operators have started the construction of the second runway -- despite an estimated cost of $30 bn. However, traffic to the airport remains far below the 160,000 yearly takeoffs and landings needed to exhaust the capacity of the existing runway, especially with Kobe Airport now under construction and threatening to steal some of KIX's intra-Japan passengers.
See also: Osaka International Airport, Kobe Airport, List of airports
1st and 4th Floors: International Carriers
Arrivals go to the First Floor and Departures go to the 4th FloorSecond Floor: Domestic Carriers
Cargo Carriers
Building Kansai Airport
1994 - Airport opened.
1995 - Survived the Kobe earthquake unscathed mostly due to the use of sliding joints (20 km from the epicenter of a quake that resulted in 5000 dead). Even the glass in windows stayed intact.
1998 - Survived a typhoon with wind speeds of up to 200 km/h.
2003 - Construction of phase 2 (second runway) started.Ground Transportation
See also: Rinku-Town
