International airport of Kansai

The International airport of Kansai (in Japanese 関西国際空港, Kansai Kokusai Kūkō , often shortened in 関空, Kankū or 関西空港, Kansai Kūkō), Code AITA KIX , Code ICAO RJBB ) is a international Aéroport built on a artificial island in bay of Ōsaka, in the south of the town of Ōsaka to the Japan. It is in service since the September 4th 1994.

It is a hub for Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways and Japanese Cargo liner Airlines. It is the international point of service road of all the area of the Kansai, where the metropolises of Ōsaka, Kyōto and Kōbe are. Old the International airport of Ōsaka, with Itami, maintained its activities for the interior flights.

History

In the years 1960, the area of the Kansai knew an economic expansion slower than that of the area of Tōkyō. To give a new economic breath to the area, it was proposed to build a new airport serving Ōsaka and Kōbe. The International airport of Ōsaka, located in the localities densément populated of Itami and Toyonaka, was surrounded by constructions and could not consequently be increased. Moreover, much of complaints had been deposited by residents because of noise pollutions.

After the protests which had accompanied construction by the new international airport of Tōkyō (the International airport of Narita), for which grounds had been requisitioned in a rural sector of the Préfecture of Chiba, it was decided to build the new airport at sea. The initial site, selected close to Kōbe, was refused by the municipality; the site was thus moved more in the south of bay of Ōsaka. Thus, the airport could function 24 hours a day, contrary to its predecessor, located downtown more. The only protests were those of a group of fishermen, quickly reduced to silence by comfortable compensations.

The project envisaged the construction of a artificial island 4 kilometers length on 1 broad. The difficulty of the project was accentuated by the seismic risks (very high) and the typhoons, with rises in the sea level which can reach 3  meters.

The building site started in 1987. The excavations were completed in 1989, with dams out of ripraps reinforced with 48  000 Tétrapodes . 21 de  million; cubic meters of cuts were excavated. 10  000 men, 10 million work hours over 3 years and 80 ships were necessary to build, with the shelter of the dams, a layer of fill of 30  meters thickness. In 1990, the metallic bridge of 3 kilometers, which connects the artificial island to the town of Rinku-Town, on the coast, was finished - at a cost of a billion dollar.

Meanwhile, the artificial island had packed itself of 8  meters, much more than what had been calculated. The project had then become the work of construction expensive of the history, with 20 years of studies, 3 years of work and several billion dollars already spent.

The construction of the terminal itself started in 1991. To compensate for the compressing of the embankments, the building was founded on adjustable piles; those can be raised by the intercalation, at their base, of thick steel plates.

The airport was brought into service in 1994.

In 1995, it was struck by the Earthquake of Kōbe (which made 6433 victims), whose epicentre was only with 20 kilometers. The building left there intact, mainly thanks to the joints expansion implemented; even the panes of the building were not damaged. In 1998, the airport supported without damage a typhoon with winds of more than 200 km/h.

In 2001, the airport off accepted one of the ten prices “ Civil Engineering Monument the Millennium ”, decreed by the American company of the Civil engineers ( American Society off Civil Engineers ).

The airport today

The airport of Kansai was imagined on the basis of two economic postulate: that the growth of the Japanese economy would continue on the basis of end of the year 80, and that the airport would become an international turntable between Asia and the other continents. None of these assumptions was checked: the Krach Japanese occurred with the right in the middle of the construction of the airport, and this one, for various reasons, still pains to be essential as a hub Asian impossible to circumvent.

The total costs of the construction of the airport are to date of 15 billion dollars, which represents a going beyond of budget of 40% - mainly because of the problems of compressings during construction of the artificial island. The airport is heavily involved in debt: 560 million dollars is spent each year in refunding of interests. The airline companies were rejected a long time by the very high landing fees (approximately 7500 dollars for a Boeing 747), most expensive of the world after the International airport of Narita. Following important falls, the airline companies start to attend the airport more assiduously.

The February 17th 2005, the International airport of Chubu, the area of Nagoya, entered in service, taking again the major part of the traffic air, national and international, of current the Aéroport of Nagoya. Competition between the various international airports of Japan should be some exacerbated. Moreover, the startup, planned for 2006, of the Aéroport of Kōbe should also make shade with KIX with regard to the national flights.

The compressing of the artificial island notably slowed down these last years (17 centimetres of compressing in 2002). In 2003, anticipating the payment of this question, the owner engaged the construction of one second track of 4000  meters, with a cost estimated at 1,56 trillion of yens. The airport being already saturated with peak period, part of this new phase should be made operational as of 2007. The construction of a second terminal is also envisaged, later on.

In 2003, the airport accommodated 8,54 million passengers for international flights and 5,53 for national flights, is more 14 million passengers . These figures are disappointing; as comparison, 12,64 million international passengers forwarded in 2000, whereas 8 million national passengers attended the airport the year of its opening.

Statistics 2006 :

Many Passengers 16,42 million.

Movements of plane 112,579.

Frieght volume 843,368 T.

Terminals

The airport of Kansai has only one terminal on 4 stages, 301,472 m ²; the building was drawn by the Italian architect Renzo Piano. It is the longest building of the world, with 1,7 kilometer from beginning to end; a Monorail conveys the passengers of an end of the building to the other.

The roof of the terminal is in the shape of wing of plane. This form facilitates the circulation air sent by the immense system of Air conditioning: the air is puffed up at an end of the building and follows the curve of the ceiling to the other side of the building, where it is recovered. Mobiles are suspended on the ceiling of the 3rd stage to benefit from this astute system.

Other installations

  • Area of the Habit S (Cargo liner) - 50,000m ²
  • : (e.g. DHL - 10,100 m ², Fedex - 10,000m ², Japanese Express train - 9,400m ²)
  • central Powerplant (Thermal, 40,000Kw)
  • Central heating and cooling plant
  • Plante of the provision of sewages
  • Japan Côte Keeps Kansai Côte Keeps airport air base
  • : (Base of the Team of special Safety)
  • Bridge of the airport access
  • : (Longest Bridge of the Boot in the world. 3,750 m)
  • Berths of the tanker of oil and center of the Provision of the Fuel
  • Osaka international Post office (19,000 T/day)

International flights

Arrivals : the customs and the recovery of the luggage are at the ground floor.

Departures : the recording is done on the third floor, the loading on the second floor.

National flights

The departures, the arrivals, the recording and the recovery of the luggage are done on the first floor.

  • All Nippon Airways (Fukuoka, Goto Fukue, Hakodate, Ishigaki, Kagoshima, Matsuyama, Memanbetsu, Miyako, Miyazaki, Okinawa, Sapporo Chitose, Tōkyō Haneda, Wakkanai)

  • Japan Airlines (Akita, Fukuoka, Kushiro, Obihiro, Okinawa, Sapporo Chitose, Tōkyō Haneda)
  • Japan Transocean Air (Ishigaki, Okinawa)
  • Skymark Airlines (Tōkyō Haneda, starting from March 11th, 2005)

Cargo liner

Access to the airport

Train

The airport is served by two railway companies: JR West and Nankai.

JR West

From the station JR Kansai Airport.
  • Kansai Airport Limited Express train Haruka, which serves in particular:
    • Tennōji
    • Shin-Ōsaka
    • Kyōto (after approximately 1 hour 20 minutes of way)
    • Maibara
  • Kansai Airport Rapid Service, which serves in particular:
    • Tennōji
    • Ōsaka (after approximately 1 hour of way)
    • Kyōbashi

Nankai

From the station Nankai Kansai Airport.
  • Rapi:T, which serves in particular:
    • Tengachaya
    • Namba (after approximately 35 minutes of way)
  • Kansai Airport Line, which serves in particular:
    • Tengachaya
    • Namba (after approximately 50 minutes of way)

Bus

Airport Limousine (Ōsaka Airport Transport), towards Umeda/Namba- Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Nara, Himeji, Tokushima, Okayama, Takamatsu

Ferry

A service of Hydroptère S serves the island of Awaji

External bonds

External English bonds:

  • the site of the international airport of Kansai

  • KIAC (International Kansai Airport Co., Ltd.), the development company
  • KALD (International Kansai Airport Land Development Co., Ltd.), the company of development
  • the history of the airport (site of KIAC)
  • the airport of Kansai indicated '' Civil Engineering Monument off the Millenium '', on the site of L ''' American Society off Civil Engineers '' (2001)
  • Wikitravel: International Kansai Airport
  • Seen satellite WikiMapia, GoogleMaps

Random links:Thousand-year-old XXXe front J. - C. | Moustache box | Fania | HMS inflexible | Albert Flocon | Vikersund | Aomori,_Aomori