Osaka Becomes Japan's First 24-hour Airport

[Thaising]

TOKYO: Kansai International Airport near Osaka opened its second runway Thursday, which will allow it to become Japan's first 24-hour aviation hub.

The expansion comes as Japan tries to increase the number of international flights amid growing competition from other Asian airports, most of which are open around the clock.

The second runway, with a length of 4,000 metres (two and a half miles), will give Kansai airport the capacity to handle more flights and ease congestion at peak hours.

The airport, built on an artificial island in Osaka Bay, will start operating 24 hours a day in October when a new air traffic control system will be ready.

The second runway opened weeks before Osaka hosts the world athletics championships.

In an opening ceremony, about 400 airport officials stood along the new runway waving their hands as the first flight landed on the new runway from Bangkok.

But the runway has also faced accusations of being a pork-barrel project as the airport has struggled to break even since opening in 1994. The airport has interest-bearing debts of 1.18 trillion yen (9.8 billion US dollars).

The airport authorities argue that the 24-hour operation will help by allowing more cargo flights and passenger jets from Asia.

"We are especially looking at surging demand from China," said airport spokeswoman Junko Masutani.

Narita International Airport near Tokyo, Japan's biggest gateway for foreign travel, is also extending a runway. But Narita is unlikely ever to have 24-hour operations due to longstanding friction with local residents upset by noise.

Japan has built new airports in recent years in the central city of Nagoya, the southern city of Fukuoka and also in Kobe, which is only a short distance from Osaka.

In May, a government panel urged Tokyo Haneda -- a domestic hub which is Asia's busiest airport -- to accommodate more international flights. - AFP

[think_too_mut]

TOKYO: Kansai International Airport near Osaka opened its second runway Thursday, which will allow it to become Japan's first 24-hour aviation hub.

The expansion comes as Japan tries to increase the number of international flights amid growing competition from other Asian airports, most of which are open around the clock.

The second runway, with a length of 4,000 metres (two and a half miles), will give Kansai airport the capacity to handle more flights and ease congestion at peak hours.

The airport, built on an artificial island in Osaka Bay, will start operating 24 hours a day in October when a new air traffic control system will be ready.

The second runway opened weeks before Osaka hosts the world athletics championships.

In an opening ceremony, about 400 airport officials stood along the new runway waving their hands as the first flight landed on the new runway from Bangkok.

But the runway has also faced accusations of being a pork-barrel project as the airport has struggled to break even since opening in 1994. The airport has interest-bearing debts of 1.18 trillion yen (9.8 billion US dollars).

The airport authorities argue that the 24-hour operation will help by allowing more cargo flights and passenger jets from Asia.

"We are especially looking at surging demand from China," said airport spokeswoman Junko Masutani.

Narita International Airport near Tokyo, Japan's biggest gateway for foreign travel, is also extending a runway. But Narita is unlikely ever to have 24-hour operations due to longstanding friction with local residents upset by noise.

Japan has built new airports in recent years in the central city of Nagoya, the southern city of Fukuoka and also in Kobe, which is only a short distance from Osaka.

In May, a government panel urged Tokyo Haneda -- a domestic hub which is Asia's busiest airport -- to accommodate more international flights. - AFP

How important is Osaka anyway? If there was no any airport at all, it would be hardly noticed by the traveling public.

The thing could be cargo that has been seized by Korean Air, the biggest cargo operator in the world.

The new Nagoya Chubu airport sees less flights than a Mickey mouse Rhodes or Mykonos airports at thiny Greek islands.

Internal flights, from Tokyo to Osaka take 5 hours city to city. While the bullet train does that in 3:30.

Those saying the extension of the Kansai airport was just government public works exercise may well be right.

For those who don't know where to start and where to end, Finnair has a flight Helsinki - Nagoya.

[JimsKnight]

Sounds pretty damned cool to me. The Japanese often lead the way in megaprojects and its only a shame other countries can't be as bold as them. Sure it does cost money, but governments have that kind of money when they rule a country wisely, unlike certain N/W European ones....

[britmaveric]

Great Airport - far prefer it over Narita any day.

[Spee]

How important is Osaka anyway?

Osaka is only one of the larger port cities in Pacific Rim and and the airport serves a population of 12-14 million people in metropolitan area that includes Kobe. Osaka and Kobe are surrounded by mountains. The only place to expand is land reclamation.

To understand the time and money investment, one has to understand the Japanese culture and business decision making. Everything is done with a long term view, not one or two generations but five or ten or more. They debate decisions almost infinitely, but once the decision is made, then it is full speed ahead in unity. The decision for the second runway was made before construction on the first was started.

The older Osaka airport is similar in some ways to Tokyo Haneda. There is limited capacity for growth, not necessarily so much for the aircraft and people, but more for the infrastructure required to support not only the people but also the cargo. The same thing could be said for DM. Arguably it could have been adequate to serve passenger traffic for the near term, but what about passenger growth and cargo growth. These things require infrastructure growth to be able to support it.

Back in the early 60's when Washington Dulles airport was planned for 20 miles out in the middle of nowhere, people called it a folly and a waste of money. Now since the late 1980's, it has been right in the middle of everything and a key hub supporting the growth of the surrounding area. There are parallels to Suvarnabhumi. There is nothing wrong with the vision. It is the ability to execute and maintain the long term vision that will predict of the overall long term success.

[britmaveric]

Kansai is man made island - fantastic engineering feat. (hydraulic stilts)

[think_too_mut]

How important is Osaka anyway?

Osaka is only one of the larger port cities in Pacific Rim and and the airport serves a population of 12-14 million people in metropolitan area that includes Kobe.

Same with Chubu in Nagoya - serves 17 million people of Aichi prefecture.

Osaka and Kobe are surrounded by mountains. The only place to expand is land reclamation.

To understand the time and money investment, one has to understand the Japanese culture and business decision making. Everything is done with a long term view, not one or two generations but five or ten or more.

There is one thing easier to understand: 24hrs passenger traffic is not possible as there are no ways to come to/leave airports. No public transport. Taxi from Narita to Tokyo could be 300-400US$. No flights before 9:30am as crew and passengers can't be there earlier for check in.

So Kansai's 24hrs is aimed at cargo traffic.

Chubu is also on reclaimed land, see the pic. And check how many planes are there - two.

[Spee]

There is one thing easier to understand: 24hrs passenger traffic is not possible as there are no ways to come to/leave airports. No public transport. Taxi from Narita to Tokyo could be 300-400US$. No flights before 9:30am as crew and passengers can't be there earlier for check in.

I think this is just a matter of supply & demand. I've flown in and out of Narita quite a bit over the years, arriving as late at 930pm and as early as 7am. A 14-16 hour day is common for many airports. The transportation infrastructure is there, whether by train or by bus (yes, taxis aren't very practical). If the demand is there, then the infrastructure can accommodate increased flights. But most of the east-west passenger flights depart and arrive between about 10am and 4pm. I would guess what the Japanese have done with Kansai, Chubu and Narita is lay out their long term transportation strategy for the next 50-100 years or so. The infrastructure is in place at those places. It's pretty impressive. It would be nice to see DM and Suvarnabhumi work out as well for Bangkok, as Narita and Haneda have done for Tokyo. The underlying infrastructure just isn't there yet. Hoefully it will be some day.

[think_too_mut]

There is one thing easier to understand: 24hrs passenger traffic is not possible as there are no ways to come to/leave airports. No public transport. Taxi from Narita to Tokyo could be 300-400US$. No flights before 9:30am as crew and passengers can't be there earlier for check in.

I think this is just a matter of supply & demand. I've flown in and out of Narita quite a bit over the years, arriving as late at 930pm and as early as 7am. A 14-16 hour day is common for many airports. The transportation infrastructure is there, whether by train or by bus (yes, taxis aren't very practical). If the demand is there, then the infrastructure can accommodate increased flights.

Have you arrived much later than 9:30pm? You could not - there are no trains or buses to take you to the city.

NRT opens 6:30am and many flights arrive within first 60 minutes. Trains from NRT start 7am but first one from Shinjuku goes 6:08am and 7:30am is the earliest you can get to NRT. Just enough for 2 hors prior check in, hence no flights leave before 9:30am.

Late arrival, even if Narita Express took you to the city what are you going to do if there are no other trains in service at all?

Potentially, the demand has always been there. Haneda has 220K slots, NRT 200K (Suvarnabhumi has 165K slots). But nobody is going to turn the 35mil people city and transport system upside down to greet passengers arriving from 1 or 2 hours flights from Korea or China at 3am.

It was not worth fighting anti-noise lobbies to operate 24x7.

Why is then Kansai 24x7 important to passengers? It's not at all.

Chubu in Nagoya is also 24hrs (nobody lives around, no noise disturbance) but even at peak times there is tumbleweed rolling around the terminal and the runways. A ghost place.

Edited August 5, 2007 by think_too_mut

[bkk_mike]

Sorry - but the advantage of 24 hour opening is that you can get a late flight out on a Friday, so that you could go some place straight from work - for the weekend for instance. And get an early flight in on a Monday, in order to get to work on time.

The problem with Narita is it's too far out to get there in time for the 2 hour check-in period for international flights, if leaving the office at a normal time. If you're going anywhere, you need to leave the office early, which means asking your boss for permission first.

The same is true for the first flights in in the morning - it takes so long to get into Tokyo that you're late for work if you land on a Monday morning on the first flight in currently.

The Osaka airport, like Narita, is a long way from Osaka, so suffers from the same problems. 24 hour opening should fix it, and hopefully, if they start seeing a passenger demand for late flights on Friday, and early flights in on Mondays, Narita may hopefully follow...

Airports in the city itself (like Haneda) can get away without 24 hour opening, because there isn't the same demand - but for ones that are a long way from the cities themselves, then 24 hour opening is useful.

[think_too_mut]

Sorry - but the advantage of 24 hour opening is that you can get a late flight out on a Friday, so that you could go some place straight from work - for the weekend for instance. And get an early flight in on a Monday, in order to get to work on time.

Sorry, but who is going to take you to/from the airport at that time?

Taxi (300-400US$) or family to drop you off or greet you. Too few people would do that, let alone the expenses aircrews would incur.

I take a midnite flight BKK-NRT and I am at work by 9:30am.

Even if NRT was open 24x7, i would have to wait for the first train or a bus, 7:30am to get into Tokyo.

[ballbreaker]

I thought Kansai airport had a limited life because the entire island was sinking and the jacks were a temporary measure to extend life of airport a few years.

[britmaveric]

I thought Kansai airport had a limited life because the entire island was sinking and the jacks were a temporary measure to extend life of airport a few years.

Not Temporary by any measure - unless they fail.