Foreign Visitors Back to Typhoon-Hit Kansai Airport

October 4, 2018

Osaka- The number of foreign visitors using Kansai International Airport is returning to year-before levels one month after a powerful typhoon caused the western Japan airport to shut.

The number of flights to and from the airport in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture, has also recovered to predisaster levels.

Typhoon Jebi caused heavy rain and a storm surge, flooding the airport's runways Sept. 4. The airport was closed until it reopened partially Sept. 7.

But the recovery has not been strong enough to keep pace with recent passenger growth.

"Numbers suggest recovery, but we actually expected growth to 110 pct" of year-before levels, Yoshiyuki Yamaya, president of the airport operator, told a press conference Wednesday.

"We must achieve a stronger recovery," he said.

According to the Osaka Regional Immigration Bureau's Kansai airport branch, the number of foreign visitors has been over 80 pct of the previous year's levels since Sept. 21, when the airport fully resumed its operations for passengers.

The visitor number slumped to 20 pct of last year's level Sunday, when the airport closed to prepare for the approach of another typhoon. But the number almost got back to the previous year's level the next day.

"It's great to see such a quick recovery," a bureau branch official said. "But the figures are small, given that the number of foreign visitors has risen by over one million annually in recent years."

The Osaka Convention & Tourism Bureau and others are publicizing the quick recovery of the airport through social media to attract more visitors to the Kansai western region.

In terms of cargo operations, the airport's handling capacity has recovered to about 80 pct of the predisaster amount. A temperature-controlled warehouse for pharmaceutical products was restarted Monday and put back into use Wednesday.

But some 1,000 tons of disaster-hit cargos remain, blocking a full recovery of the cargo operations.

The airport also needs to win back companies that have switched to different airports.

The Kansai Association of Corporate Executives is calling on companies to switch back to using international cargo flights at Kansai International Airport.

The airport operator has set up three teams to work out antidisaster measures, planning to draw up an interim report by the end of this month. Jiji Press