Osaka Kansai International Airport: a powerful regional airport but still an investment experiment

Osaka Kansai International Airport (OKAI), which opened in 1994, is built on two man-made islands located 40km from the city centre, and is the main regional centre in Japan for scheduled international passenger flights, as well as being a hub for both JAL and ANA. It is also one of the two main airports serving Osaka, the city at the centre of Japan's second largest metropolitan region population (the other airport is Osaka International Airport, or Itami Airport as it is more commonly known).

Both of these airports have recently been privatised in what was the first public-to-private airport transaction in Japan, expected to foreshadow many others in the following months and years if it is deemed to be a success.

This report looks at: present and future growth trends at Kansai International; local airport statistics; how the airport matches up to competition across a range of metrics; construction activities, and its changing ownership.