Japan’s Kansai Airport to invest in capacity and safety upgrades

Kansai International Airport in Japan is reportedly planning to invest approximately JPY100bn ($909.5m) to expand capacity and enhance safety.

The investment is planned over the next six years until 2025 and will see the strengthening of safety provisions including disaster protection measures, reported Nikkei Asian Review.

Kansai Airports, the operator of the facility, is planning to raise the airport’s annual traveller capacity by around 10 million before 2025.

The new safety measures are being planned in the wake of severe flooding caused by typhoon Jebi at Terminal 1 in September last year.

The airport received nearly 28.94 million passengers in 2018 despite temporary operational disruptions caused by the typhoon.

Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, which have an annual passenger handling capacity of 25 million and eight million respectively, need to be upgraded in order to meet the growing demand for air travel.

Kansai Airport CEO Yoshiyuki Yamaya told the news agency: “A competition has arisen worldwide to build more efficient terminals using information technology and other tech, and we’d like to bring those ideas to Kansai International. We’ll strive to finish the renovations before Osaka’s 2025 world’s fair.”

The planned upgrades will focus on rearranging layouts and installing modern technology, as well as increasing space for duty-free shops.

Plans also include increasing the height of seawalls and installing concrete blocks to minimise the impact of waves.

The airport will also relocate the electrical equipment kept underground at Terminal 1 to above ground to keep them away from water.

Kansai International Airport was opened in 1994 and is considered a gateway for the Kansai area, the western part of Japan. It is a hub for both domestic and international routes with round the clock operations.