Kansai and Osaka airports to be conjoined under private control?

Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport & Tourism (MLITT) Minister, Seiji Maehara, has proposed to the Governor of Osaka a plan to transform Osaka Airport into a stock company and integrate it with the offshore Kansai International Airport under joint management. The justification is that the Kansai region's population is too small to justify three airports, and that Osaka Airport's operations inhibit the realisation of Kansai Airport's potential. Mr Maehara stated the rights to operate the two airports in the Osaka region will be sold to the private sector to help trim Kansai airport’s JPY1.3 trillion debts, according to the plan. The merger and privatisation plan indicates the government's willingness to streamline management of the nation's 98 airports. [2706 words]

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This report contains the following subheadings:

• Landmark bill protects Narita from influence of individual shareholders
• Downtown Itami was built in and incapable of expansion
• The threat of oblivion if transport links were not maintained
• Born again Itami fundamentalists - out of step again, as Kansai is undermined
• Can Kansai become an alternative to Narita?
• Osaka Airport to face closure (by 2045?)
• Joint stock corporations popular in Japan - but not with airport buyers
• In need of a strategy for aviation - not just a patchwork of problem fixes

This report contains the following charts and tables:

• Kansai International Airport international passenger numbers and domestic passenger numbers: 2000 to 2009
• Kansai International Airport total passenger number growth and cargo volume growth: 2000 to 2009