Osaka International Airport

Osaka International Airport (ITM), known locally as Itami Airport, is the primary domestic airport for the Kansai region and Japan's third-busiest airport for scheduled domestic traffic. Despite the 'International' in its name - a relic of its role as the region's main airport before Kansai International (KIX) opened in 1994 - ITM handles only Japanese domestic flights. The airport straddles the boundary of Itami, Toyonaka and Ikeda cities in Hyōgo and Osaka Prefectures, 13 km (8 mi) north of central Osaka at 50 ft (15 m) elevation. ITM operates two parallel asphalt/concrete runways (14L/32R at 5,997 ft / 1,828 m and 14R/32L at 9,840 ft / 3,000 m), though strict noise-abatement rules cap movements at 370 per day and prohibit any arrivals after 21:00 or departures before 07:00. The airport serves 50 routes to 26 destinations on 6 airlines (2026), with ANA and JAL operating the dominant shuttle flights to Tokyo-Haneda - one of the world's densest air corridors - and regional services on IBEX, J-Air, Oriental Air Bridge and Amakusa Airlines linking Sapporo, Okinawa, Fukuoka, Sendai and all major regional airports. Although airlines shifted international traffic to KIX in 1994, the closer-in convenience of ITM has kept it economically central to Kansai, particularly for business travel and domestic connections to Kyoto and Kobe. A sleek 2020 terminal refurbishment restored consolidated check-in and introduced Japan's first commercial face-recognition boarding pilots, underscoring ITM's continued role as a showcase for operational efficiency in a city of 2.7 million. ITM is operated by Kansai Airports Co., a consortium led by VINCI Airports and Orix Corporation which also operates KIX and Kobe Airport (UKB) under a single concession - one of the largest airport-system privatisations in Asia. Pre-pandemic annual traffic approached 16 million passengers. The airport sits just 260 m (850 ft) from the Senri Newtown residential area, generating persistent noise-compensation litigation that has shaped Japanese aviation policy for decades.