Peach Aviation (MM, Osaka Kansai) and its mainline parent ANA - All Nippon Airways resumed some domestic services from the flooded Osaka Kansai airport on September 7, following by limited international operations the day after. The airport was closed on September 5 due to heavy damage and floods caused by Typhoon Jebi.
As of September 9, other airlines which resumed limited services to Kansai include JAL - Japan Airlines, Spring Airlines, China Southern Airlines, StarFlyer, and Air Seoul, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows.
All airlines currently operate from Terminal 2, normally a low-cost facility, which emerged relatively unscathed from the floods. The main Terminal 1 received substantial damage and remains closed for the time being.
The airport is also using only one of its two runways, 4000-metre 06L/24R. The other, parallel and slightly shorter 06R/24L runway was flooded more severely and is currently inoperative.
The airport also continues to be hard to reach for passengers after strong wind blew a tanker ship into the bridge connecting the man-made island on which the airport is located with the mainline. Rail connections are currently interrupted and roads are only open to special buses connecting the airport with nearby cities on the mainland.
The Asahi Shimbun has reported that Kansai Airports, the airport operator, asked the authorities to temporarily reassign some flights to nearby Osaka Itami and Kobe airports. Both facilities are also operated by Kansai Airports. The firm asked the local authorities to extend the opening hours of both airports and to temporarily expand customs, border, and quarantine facilities.
Peach Aviation, Kansai's largest operator, said it would operate around 90% of its normal schedule until September 13. However, Nikkei Asian Review has reported the governor of Osaka Prefecture Ichiro Matsui as saying that the restoration of the airport to the full capacity could take "several months".
Typhoon Jebi was the strongest typhoon to hit Japan in 25 years.
