Osaka Itami Airport 大阪伊丹空港 Ōsaka Itami Kūkō | |||||||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||||
| Owner | New Kansai International Airport Company [ja] (NKIAC)[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Operator | Kansai Airports (Orix andVinci Airports) | ||||||||||||||
| Serves | Keihanshin | ||||||||||||||
| Location | |||||||||||||||
| Opened | 1939; 87 years ago (1939) | ||||||||||||||
| Hub for | |||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 12 m / 39 ft | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 34°47′04″N135°26′21″E / 34.78444°N 135.43917°E /34.78444; 135.43917 | ||||||||||||||
| Website | www | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
  ITM/RJOO Location in Osaka Prefecture Show map of Osaka Prefecture ITM/RJOO Location in Hyogo Prefecture Show map of Hyōgo Prefecture ITM/RJOO Location in Japan Show map of Japan ITM/RJOO Location in Asia Show map of Asia | |||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
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| Statistics (2024) | |||||||||||||||
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| Source: EnglishKansai Airports[2] | |||||||||||||||
Osaka Itami Airport (大阪伊丹空港,Ōsaka Itami Kūkō;IATA:ITM,ICAO:RJOO) is the primarydomestic airport for theKansai region of Japan, including its major cities ofOsaka,Kyoto, andKobe. It is the airport closest to Osaka, being 11 km (6.8 mi) north ofOsaka Station, as well as Kyoto, being 36 km (22 mi) southwest ofKyoto Station. Itami Airport has a small footprint, covering only 311hectares (768acres) of land.[3]
Until January 2025, the airport was known asOsaka International Airport (大阪国際空港,Ōsaka Kokusai Kūkō), which remains the airport's official Japanese name. Despite the "international" designation, the airport caters exclusively to domestic flights.Kansai International Airport (43 km (27 mi) away) took over the region's international traffic in 1994 and competes with Itami for domestic traffic. Itami also faces competition fromKobe Airport (26 km (16 mi) away), a smaller domestic airport opened in 2006.
The airport was named after the city ofItami,Hyōgo Prefecture, because most of its land is located there. A portion of the airport property is also located inToyonaka andIkeda cities ofOsaka Prefecture. The terminal complex is located in all three of these cities, and the only access from the Itami side is via a long tunnel that passes below the runway and apron.
In FY2006, Itami used to be Japan's third busiest airport and the Kansai region's busiest. In 2015, it had 139,450 aircraft movements, serving 14,541,936 domestic passengers and carrying 140,668 metric tons of freight cargo.[4] In 2018, Itami was the seventh busiest in Japan, serving 16.3 million passengers. In the Kansai region, Kansai International Airport had far more passengers than Itami Airport.
Itami Airport opened asNo. 2 Osaka Airport (第二大阪飛行場,Dai-ni Ōsaka Hikōjō) in 1939. Prior to the opening of Itami,Kizugawa Airport was Osaka's main civilian airport. It handled bothseaplanes and conventional ones. The site of Kizugawa Airport is now a port area in Funamachi in south end ofTaisho Ward with only a small marker[5] located in Funamachi Ryokuchi Park below theShin-Kizugawa Bridge.
In 1931, the Osaka municipal government drafted plans to construct a new "No. 1 Osaka Airport" near the mouth of the Yamato River, also targeted at seaplanes, but concerns aboutfog and protests from Kobe-based businesses led the government to build the "No. 2 Airport" for land-based aircraft instead.[6][unreliable source?]
Construction began in July 1936 on a 53-hectare (131 acre) site. The new airport opened on January 17, 1939, and was primarily used by theImperial Japanese Army during its early years. It had four runways at the time, ranging in length from 1,100 to 1,600 m, and could handle aircraft as large as theDouglas DC-3.[7]
U.S. occupation forces took over Osaka No. 2 Airport after the end of World War II in 1945, expanding it to 221 hectares and renaming itItami Air Base.[8] The airfield was used extensively by US forces during theKorean War.[9] In 1954,Marilyn Monroe andJoe DiMaggio stopped at Itami during their honeymoon, and in 1956, the base was used in the filming of the movieSayonara.[10]Japan Airlines operated its inaugural flight between Itami and Tokyo'sHaneda Airport on October 25, 1951, using aMartin 2-0-2 aircraft leased fromNorthwest Airlines. JAL initially operated from a small joint-use section of the U.S. air base.[7]
Itami was fully returned to the Japanese government in March 1958, and was renamedOsaka Airport (大阪空港,Ōsaka Kūkō) in March 1958 andOsaka International Airport in July 1959.[11][7]
Japan Airlines andCathay Pacific opened international flights from Osaka toHong Kong in 1960.[11] Although Itami saw its first passenger jet service (Caravelle service fromThai Airways International) in 1964,[12] the runways and terminals at Osaka lacked the capacity to handle larger jets such as thede Havilland Comet,Douglas DC-8 andBoeing 707, which had already begun operating at Tokyo'sHaneda Airport in 1959.[7]
The Japanese government quickly implemented a plan to expand Osaka Airport by an additional 82.5 ha so that it could accommodate jet aircraft. Despite some protests from locals, the plan was approved by the neighboring city assemblies between 1960 and 1961 with strong backing from local business groups, and land was purchased between 1962 and 1964, in part out of the aviation industry's interest in keeping pace with the development of theTokaido Shinkansen high-speed rail link between Tokyo and Osaka. The current main runway was completed in 1970.[9]
In its heyday Itami was served by a variety of major international carriers, includingPan Am (Japan routes transferred toUnited in 1985),British Airways,Air India,Cathay Pacific andKorean Air.
Northwest Airlines was a major international operator at Itami, and by 1992 offered nonstop service to New York, Los Angeles, Honolulu and Sydney.[13] The Sydney service became the focus of a rare aviation agreement dispute between the United States and Australia, as less than 30% of passengers on the Australia-Japan segment were originating in the U.S. even though the "primary objective" of the route authority, according to the US-Australia aviation agreement, was service between the US and Australia. In 1993, after Australia demanded arbitration and the US implemented retaliatory sanctions againstQantas, Northwest was forced to limit the amount of local Australia-Japan traffic on the Osaka-Sydney route, and subsequently abandoned the service entirely.[14]
BOAC operated in Osaka until 1974, flying from eitherTaipei orTokyo.[15]
While Japan's economy was growing rapidly, the area around Itami Airport became an increasingly dense residential area for commuters to Osaka.
A number of factors made the airport an intensely debated political issue in the 1960s and 1970s, among them:
Jet flights at Itami began on June 1, 1964, and triggered complaints by neighboring residents aboutnoise pollution.[9] In addition,eminent domain procedures were used in 1966 to obtain land for the runway expansion at Itami and led to local protests, as had also been the case in the construction ofNarita International Airport near Tokyo.[16]
In May 1968, a group of local citizens decided to sue the government for damages related to noise pollution from Itami Airport. The lawsuit was filed in December 1969. The Japanese government concurrently banned takeoffs and landings at Itami between 10:30 PM and 6:30 AM, effective February 1970.[9] While the litigation continued, the city of Itami issued a public declaration in October 1973 calling for the closure of the airport.[11]
In February 1974, the Osaka District Court issued a qualified ruling in favor of the plaintiffs which limited the scope of their damages. The plaintiffs appealed to the Osaka High Court, which ruled in November 1975 that the plaintiffs were entitled to both a wider scope of damages and aninjunction halting flights at the airport between 9 PM and 7 AM. This was a landmark decision in Japanese environmental law as it set a precedent for polluters to be enjoined and to be required to pay damages to victims. However, the state then appealed to theSupreme Court of Japan, which deliberated for almost six years before ruling in 1981 that the High Court injunction was illegal (though the victims remained entitled to damages).[9]
By the mid-1970s, the airport was subject to extensive slot restrictions, with operations limited to 200 jets and 170 propeller aircraft per day, and no takeoffs or landings allowed after 9 PM.[citation needed] These restrictions led the major domestic airlines to adopt more widebody aircraft in ultra-high-density configurations on Itami routes. The introduction of these widebodies caused additional concern among locals who protested the increased pollution and greater dangers in the event of a crash.[citation needed]
| Airlines | Destinations | Refs. |
|---|---|---|
| Air France | Anchorage, Athens, Bangkok-Don Mueang, Beirut, Dharan, Hong Kong-Kai Tak, Karachi, Manila, Mumbai, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paris-Orly, Rome, Tehran | [1][2] |
| Air India | Bangkok-Don Mueang, Delhi, Hong Kong-Kai Tak, Mumbai | [3][4] |
| British Airways (BOAC until 1974) | Anchorage, Colombo, London-Heathrow | [5] |
| CAAC | Shanghai-Hongqiao | [6] |
| Cathay Pacific | Hong Kong-Kai Tak, Taipei-Chiang Kai-shek | [7] |
| China Airlines | Hong Kong-Kai Tak, Taipei-Songshan | [8] |
| Civil Air Transport | Taipei-Songshan | [9] |
| Japan Airlines | Beijing, Busan, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Guam, Hamburg, Hong Kong-Kai Tak, Honolulu, London-Heathrow, Manila, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Saipan, Seoul-Gimpo, Shanghai-Hongqiao, Singapore, Taipei-Songshan | [10][11][12] |
| Japan Asia Airways | Kaohsiung, Taipei-Chiang Kai-shek | [13] |
| Korean Air | Busan, Jeju, Seoul-Gimpo, Taipei-Chiang Kai-shek | [14] |
| Lufthansa | Anchorage, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg | [15] |
| Northwest Airlines | Anchorage, Chicago-O'Hare, Detroit, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Memphis, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York-JFK, San Francisco, Seattle/Tacoma, Sydney, Taipei-Chiang Kai-shek | [16][17] |
| Pan American World Airways | Fairbanks, Guam, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York-JFK, Seoul-Gimpo | [21][22][23] |
| Singapore Airlines | Singapore, Taipei-Chiang Kai-shek | [24][25] |
| Thai Airways International | Bangkok-Don Mueang, Manila, Taipei-Chiang Kai-shek | [26][27] |
| United Airlines | Honolulu, San Francisco | [28] |
Because of the political friction surrounding Itami, planners began work in the 1970s to relocate many of its flights to an offshore location. This plan led to the opening ofKansai International Airport, in 1994 on an artificial island in Osaka Bay.[16] Upon the opening of Kansai, all international service at Itami was transferred to Kansai, and the IATA airport code of Itami Airport was changed fromOSA toITM.[10]
Prior to the opening of Kansai, an agreement was reached between the national and local governments in 1990 to maintain Itami as a domestic airport. The city of Itami also reversed its anti-airport stance from the 1970s, officially declaring in April 2007 that the city would co-exist with the airport.[11]
Itami has been used by international charters forstate visits –Air Force One visited Itami in November 2005 and June 2019, and Chinese premierWen Jiabao landed at Itami in April 2007[17] – and byAsiana Airlines charter flights to and from South Korea in late 2015.[18]All Nippon Airways retains a large maintenance base at Itami which occasionally services aircraft ferried in from overseas without passengers, and some international cargo flights continue to use the airport as well.
The policy of the Japanese government has been to limit operations at Itami in order to spur development at Kansai and Kobe.[19] Commercial passenger aircraft with more than two engines were banned from Itami effective April 2006, although such aircraft may continue to make ferry flights to and from Itami for maintenance purposes. All Nippon Airways flew a 747 to Itami on January 12, 2014, the first 747 operation at the airport in eight years, for an open house event to commemorate the upcoming retirement of ANA's 747 fleet in March 2014.[20]
The government proposed changing Itami's status from first-class airport to second-class airport, which would saddle local governments with one-third of its operating costs; after protests from the surrounding local authorities, the national government withdrew this proposal. The government also proposed banning widebody aircraft from Itami, although this proposal was criticized as unrealistic given the volume of traffic there.
In May 2011, theDiet of Japan passed legislation to form a new Kansai International Airport Corporation using the state's existing equity stake in Kansai Airport and its property holdings at Itami Airport. The move was aimed at offsetting Kansai Airport's debt burden.[21] NKIAC started free shuttle bus service between Itami and Kansai for transfer passengers in order to further integrate the two as a single hub. Itami has also seen increased domestic passenger traffic in 2013 following the easing of flight restrictions, which was possible due to propeller aircraft being replaced by quieter regional jets; JAL was able to increase the frequency on its Itami-Fukuoka route from two flights to five flights daily, making the route more competitive with theSanyō Shinkansen rail service.[22]
In September 2013, NKIAC announced that it would acquire Osaka Airport Terminal Co. for 27.8 billion yen, which an NKIAC official called the "last piece" of the integration of both airports' management.[23] NKIAC plans to market Itami Airport to business travelers by touting its convenience for domestic business travel and improving its connectivity toNarita International Airport, while continuing to market Kansai Airport to leisure and international travelers.[24]
FollowingTyphoon Jebi, which resulted in the temporary closure of Kansai Airport in September 2018, operating hours at both Itami and Kobe were extended, and the government began considering permitting international service at all three Osaka area airports.[25]Japan Airlines later announced that it would operate two special flights between Itami and Hong Kong in mid-October 2018.[26] These would be the first scheduled international passenger flights to or from Itami in 24 years.[27]
Itami is limited to domestic flights, and can only handle 18 landings per hour and 370 landings per day. As of July 2013[update], NKIAC is considering providing more leniency to the aforementioned restrictions through negotiations with local authorities, on the basis that advances in technology have allowed modern aircraft to be quieter than those in operation when the restrictions were imposed. NKIAC hopes to coordinate with local governments to increase the number of slots allowed during the day and to open additional slots during nighttime hours.[19]
BothHyogo Prefecture andItami City are supporters of expanded service at Itami, and established a formal coordination body in July 2013 to propose further reforms such as allowing international charter flights, and to engage in local efforts such as improving ground transportation and publicizing the airport's convenience. They planned to enlist the support of the other neighboring municipalities of Toyonaka, Takarazuka and Ikeda.[28] On the other hand, the Japanese government has supported Kansai at Itami's expense,[19] and formerOsaka City mayor and formerOsaka Prefecture governorToru Hashimoto has been a particularly vocal critic of the airport, arguing that the plannedChuo Shinkansen maglev line will make much of its domestic role irrelevant, and that its domestic functions should be transferred toKansai Airport in conjunction with upgraded high-speed access to Kansai from central Osaka. In 2009, Hashimoto proposed closing Itami and converting the site into an "International Campus Freedom City" operating in theEnglish language with 20,000 residents; the governor of Hyogo criticized the idea as "complete nonsense."[29] Hashimoto later expressed support for Transport MinisterSeiji Maehara's plan to maintain Itami with further restrictions on the size of aircraft.[30]
Kansai International Airport Corporation conducted a public tender to sell the operating rights forKansai and Itami Airport in May 2015. A consortium ofOrix,Vinci SA owning 40% of shares, with the remainder 20% owned by Kansai-based enterprises such asHankyu Hanshin Holdings andPanasonic was the sole bidder for the 45-year contract, at a price of around $18 billion.[31][32]
This new operating company, calledKansai Airports, has been operatingKansai and Itami airports since April 1, 2016, as well as the region's third airportKobe Airport, since April 1, 2018.[33]
On January 30, 2025, the airport's English name and signs were officially changed to "Osaka Itami Airport", to avoid confusion as some travelers could mistake the "Osaka International Airport" name which has no international flights, with Kansai International Airport.[33]
Itami Airport has a single terminal building with 21 gates, divided into the "North Terminal" forJAL andAmakusa Airlines; and the "South Terminal" forANA andIBEX. The departure and arrival zones of the two terminals are connected by a "Central Block" containing shops, restaurants and a hotel.[34]
The terminal was planned to be extensively renovated by August 2020 to include a new pier for additional aircraft, consolidated departures and arrivals facilities (including a single central security checkpoint with expanded capacity) and a new shopping and dining area. Work began in February 2016, and the renovated central area became operational in 2018.[35] On August 5, 2020, the terminal's complete renovation was completed.The latest facilities have helped the airport to rank 78th inSkytrax’s world airport rankings for 2024, up from 95th the previous year.
| Rank | Airport | Passengers | Carriers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tokyo–Haneda | 5,274,627 | All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines |
| 2 | Naha | 923,752 | All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines |
| 3 | Sendai | 894,926 | All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines |
| 4 | Sapporo–Chitose | 817,364 | All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines |
| 5 | Kagoshima | 701,233 | All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines |
| 6 | Fukuoka | 670,759 | All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines |
| 7 | Miyazaki | 538,827 | All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines |
| 8 | Matsuyama | 518,114 | All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines |
Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Civil Aviation Bureau 2014
The only direct railway connection to the airport is theOsaka Monorail, which serves the northern suburbs of Osaka.
The monorail connects to the following lines:
| « | Service | » | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Osaka Monorail Main Line (11) | ||||
| Terminus | - | Hotarugaike (12) | ||
Several plans have been formulated for improving rail access to the airport.Hankyu considered building a spur from the Takarazuka Line to the airport in the 1970s, but did not proceed with the project due to capacity constraints on the Takarazuka Line; Hankyu reportedly re-commenced studies of the project in 2017.[38]JR West announced a plan to build a line to the airport fromItami around 1989 but never proceeded, due in part to the 2005Amagasaki derailment and demand concerns following the opening ofKobe Airport.[38] Hyogo Prefecture also considered building a light rail system from the airport to central Itami around 2007, but was unwilling to commit funding for the project due to profitability concerns.[38] An April 2018 study by theMinistry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism concluded that a 4 km, 70 billion yen spur line fromSone to the airport, allowing one-stop express service toUmeda in around 20 minutes, would deliver a greaterbenefit-cost ratio than many other Japanese rail projects in terms of the number of passengers assisted, but would not be profitable at Hankyu's standard fare level and would require a significant surcharge in order to break even.[39]
Itami Airport is directly connected to theHanshin Expressway Ikeda Route and is five minutes' drive from theChugoku Expressway, making it possible to reach central Osaka by car or bus in 25 to 30 minutes, central Kobe in 40 minutes and central Kyoto in 55 minutes.[40]
Itami Airport'smascot is named Sorayan, and was created for the airport's 75th anniversary. She is a round, humanoid airplane who wears a captain's hat, and speaks with an Osaka accent.[41] The name was chosen from over 1,900 suggestions sent to airport operators, and is a combination ofSora, Japanese for "Sky", andYan, a word used for emphasis in the local dialect. Her interests include roaming around the airport and fashion, as indicated by her collection of the silk scarves worn by Japanese flight attendants. She has made appearances with Kan-kun, the mascot of nearby Kansai International Airport.[42]
Media related toOsaka International Airport at Wikimedia Commons
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