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Kobe Airport

Coordinates: 34°37′58″N 135°13′26″E / 34.63278°N 135.22389°E / 34.63278; 135.22389
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Kobe Airport

神戸空港
Kōbe Kūkō
Summary
Airport typePublic
OwnerKobe City
OperatorKansai Airports (Orix-Vinci SA consortium)
ServesKeihanshin
LocationChuo-ku, Kobe
OpenedFebruary 16, 2006; 19 years ago (2006-02-16)
Operating base for
Elevation AMSL22 ft / 7 m
Coordinates34°37′58″N 135°13′26″E / 34.63278°N 135.22389°E / 34.63278; 135.22389
Websitewww.kairport.co.jp/eng/
Map
RJBE is located in Kobe
RJBE
RJBE
Location in Kobe
RJBE is located in Hyōgo Prefecture
RJBE
RJBE
Location in Hyōgo Prefecture
RJBE is located in Japan
RJBE
RJBE
Location in Japan
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
09/27 2,500 8,202 Asphalt concrete
Statistics (2024)
Passengers (Calendar year)3,576,118
Cargo (metric tonnes)0
Aircraft movement33,300

Kobe Airport (神戸空港, Kōbe Kūkō) (IATA: UKB, ICAO: RJBE) is a primarily domestic airport on an artificial island just off the coast of Kobe, 8 km (5.0 mi) south of Sannomiya Station[3] Japan. Opened on February 16, 2006, it primarily handles domestic flights. International flights to destinations within Taiwan and South Korea, started in April 2025. The airport can also accommodate international charter flights. In the first year of operation (2006), the airport handled 2,697,000 passengers with an average load factor of 61.1%. In 2017, it handled 3,071,974 passengers with an average load factor of 79.4%.[4] In the fiscal year covering April 2022 - March 2023, UKB had a passenger throughput of 3,109,151. The island airport covers just 156 hectares (385 acres) of land.[5]

History

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The city government of Kobe first proposed an airport adjacent to Port Island in 1971. At the time, government planners were seeking alternatives to the heavily congested Itami Airport: the original Kobe Airport plan called for six runways more than 3,000 m (9,843 ft) in length on a 1,100 ha (2,700 acres) facility. The mayor of Kobe, Tatsuo Miyazaki, declared his opposition to building such a large airport so close to the city, and was re-elected shortly afterward in 1973, defeating a competitor who supported the airport.[6]

Kobe businesses were still interested in the plan, however, and pressed the city government to propose a smaller facility with one 3,000 m (9,843 ft) runway. This plan was submitted to the Transport Ministry in 1982 as a competitor for the Kansai International Airport plan which was then being supported by the Osaka and Wakayama prefectural governments. After the national government voiced its displeasure with the Kobe proposal, Kobe officially switched its support to the Kansai Airport proposal in 1984, but in 1985 decided to independently fund the construction of another airport.[6]

Kobe Airport (bottom) under construction in 2003

The construction of the airport was stalled for lack of funding until 1995, when it won national government support as a means for recovering the Kobe economy in the wake of the Great Hanshin earthquake. Despite ongoing controversy, locals continued to support the plan: in the 1997 mayoral election, the pro-airport coalition won a narrow victory over the anti-airport coalition. Construction began in September 1999 but political controversy continued: 87,000 signatures were collected in a petition to recall the mayor in 2000, and a citizen lawsuit to cancel the project was dismissed in 2004.

The airport finally opened on February 16, 2006, with Japan Airlines operating the first flight and All Nippon Airways operating the first scheduled flight. Both ANA and JAL announced plans to replace portions of their widebody fleet with a larger number of mid-size aircraft, in part because of a need to fill the excess number of flight slots created by Kobe Airport's construction.[7] The airport handled its first international business jet flight in September 2006.[8]

As part of its bankruptcy restructuring, JAL terminated all services out of Kobe and closed its office on June 1, 2010, in response to which Skymark Airlines announced a major expansion at the airport.[9] ANA also cut back services following the airport's opening. Skymark is currently the dominant carrier at Kobe carrying approximately two-thirds of its passengers.[10]

In 2013, Kobe mayor Tatsuo Yada endorsed a proposal to consolidate the management of the three Kansai region airports by adding Kobe Airport to the planned sale in 2014 of operating concessions at Itami and Kansai.[11]

Kobe was already the most indebted municipality in Japan with debts of over ¥3 trillion after the Great Hanshin earthquake, and this project's cost (estimated at over ¥300 billion, or US$3 billion) has made it very controversial. Supporters argue that the third airport can mean increased competition and lower airfares. People in the surrounding regions (Shikoku, Awaji Island etc.) can now have a closer airport while access to Kansai may be limited. Since the ferry from Tokushima to Kansai International Airport was discontinued, travellers have had to rely on alternate means of transportation including a bus to Kansai Airport, which takes an hour longer, or to use the local Tokushima Airport, which is limited in schedules.

On April 1, 2018, Kansai Airports Kobe founded by Orix, Vinci Airports, and Kansai Airports took over the operation of Kobe Airport.[12]

Airlines and destinations

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Passenger concourse

Kobe has a single passenger terminal with four gates capable of accommodating widebody aircraft

AirlinesDestinations
Air Do Sapporo–Chitose
All Nippon Airways Sapporo–Chitose, Tokyo–Haneda
EVA Air Taipei–Taoyuan (begins 20 June 2025)[13]
Fuji Dream Airlines Aomori, Hanamaki, Matsumoto
Juneyao Air Charter: Nanjing,[14] Shanghai–Pudong[14]
Korean Air Seoul–Incheon[15]
Skymark Airlines Ibaraki, Kagoshima, Nagasaki, Naha, Sapporo–Chitose, Sendai, Shimojishima,[16] Tokyo–Haneda
Solaseed Air Naha
Starlux Airlines Taichung, Taipei–Taoyuan[17][18]
Toki Air Niigata[19]

Some international charter flights also use Kobe Airport. Although the airport's runway is not long enough to handle long-range flights to Europe and the Americas, it occasionally handles charters to China and other nearby countries.

The Transport Ministry has capped scheduled domestic operations at 30 daily flights, and has banned international flights with the exception of private aircraft and "own use" charters, in order to prevent overcrowding in the area's airspace and to protect the growth of Kansai Airport.[6] The flight caps have been a point of controversy with Kobe Airport supporters, who point out that the cap was calculated based on Kansai Airport operating twice as many frequencies as are currently offered: given the current traffic levels at Kansai, Kobe should be able to handle six or seven flights per hour.

Aptil 18, 2025 marked the opening of the international terminal, with flights to international destinations being classified as charters as of that month.[20] Korean Air, VietJet Air and Starlux Airlines have expressed interest to operate international flights to Kobe when the restriction is loosened.[21]

Statistics

[edit]
Annual passenger traffic at UKB airport. See Wikidata query.
Traffic by fiscal year (from April to March)[22][4]
Passengers Change Aircraft
operations 		Load Factor
2005
(Opened in March) 		353,673 1,237 72.5%
2006 2,743,004 10,629 60.4%
2007 2,974,983 Increase 8.5% 10,638 67.0%
2008 2,579,674 Decrease 13.3% 9,859 67.8%
2009 2,337,480 Decrease 9.4% 9,593 70.9%
2010 2,219,887 Decrease 5.0% 9,971 69.2%
2011 2,568,084 Increase 15.7% 12,141 70.3%
2012 2,410,343 Decrease 6.1% 13,551 64.2%
2013 2,356,327 Decrease 2.2% 13,575 65.2%
2014 2,446,455 Increase 3.8% 14,020 64.9%
2015 2,546,591 Increase 4.1% 13,711 67.0%
2016 2,783,636 Increase 9.3% 12,513 77.4%
2017 3,136,194 Increase 12.7% 13,868 79.4%
2018 3,190,090 Increase 1.7% 14,817 80.7%
2019 3,292,298 Increase 3.2% 16,423 75.8%
2020 1,213,380 Decrease 63.1% 11,614 46.4%
2021 1,752,629 Increase 44.4% 15,019 48.1%
2022 2,701,440 Increase 54.1% 16,635
2023 3,434,858 Increase 27.1% 17,454

Ground and water transportation

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Kobe Airport and transportations to the downtown

On February 2, 2006, Kobe Airport Station was connected to Sannomiya Station in central Kobe by an extension of the existing Port Liner automated guideway transit system.[23] Travel time to Sannomiya is 18 minutes. From Sannomiya, it is around 20 minutes to Ōsaka Station and around 50 minutes to Kyoto Station by the Special Rapid Service on the JR Kobe Line and JR Kyoto Line.

Kobe Airport is connected to Kansai Airport by the Kobe–Kanku Bay Shuttle (神戸-関空ベイ・シャトル), a high speed ferry which completes the airport-to-airport journey in around 30 minutes.[24]

There are bus services to Shin-Kobe Station (on the San'yō Shinkansen), Sannomiya Station, and Kōbe Station every 25–40 minutes.

Accidents and incidents

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  • At 14:30 on May 31 2024, a light aircraft belonging to Hirata Gakuen aviation school landed on the airport runway without its wheels being extended during a touch-and-go landing, forcing the affected runway's closure and the cancellation of 34 flights. None of the three people aboard the plane were injured.[25]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Kobe Airport" (PDF) (in Japanese). Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 23, 2021. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
  2. ^ "KIX/ITAMI/KOBE Airports Traffic Reports for December 2024" (PDF). kansai-airports.co.jp. Retrieved April 20, 2025.
  3. ^ AIS Japan Archived 2016-05-17 at the Portuguese Web Archive
  4. ^ a b 神戸空港利用状況 [Kobe Airport usage]. City of Kobe (in Japanese). Retrieved September 1, 2018.
  5. ^ "Kobe Airport Facts and Statistics". kansai-airports.co.jp. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c 関西３空港のあり方について（提言） (PDF). 財団法人 兵庫地域政策研究機構. March 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 29, 2013. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
  7. ^ Shimizu, K. "JAL, ANA eye smaller jets to meet changing needs". in Japan Times Archived 2004-10-11 at the Wayback Machine, Oct 2004., retrieved February 15, 2007
  8. ^ "神戸市：神戸空港ホームページ 神戸空港の経緯". Archived from the original on January 4, 2014. Retrieved June 8, 2011.
  9. ^ 兵庫県と神戸市・神商、神戸空港24時間化など要望 国交省に. The Nikkei (in Japanese). June 1, 2010. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
  10. ^ "神戸空港利用状況(H30.2)" [Kobe Airport Usage Status (February 2018)] (PDF) (in Japanese). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 1, 2018. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  11. ^ 神戸市長、3空港一体に意欲. The Nikkei (in Japanese). October 5, 2013. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
  12. ^ "神戸空港特定運営事業等における新運営会社の設立および実施契約の締結について" (PDF). Kansai Airports. September 26, 2017.
  13. ^ "EVA Air Schedules Taipei – Kobe Service in late-2Q25". Aeroroutes. Retrieved February 20, 2025.
  14. ^ a b "Juneyao Airlines Schedules Kobe Launch in 2Q25".
  15. ^ Lim, Seong-ho (February 18, 2025). "대한항공, 4월 18일 인천∼고베 노선 취항…국적사 최초 운항" [Korean Air launches Incheon to Kobe Route on 18 April, First among Korean carriers] (in Korean). Yonhap News Agency.
  16. ^ Liu, Jim. "Skymark Airlines adds Shimojishima service from late-Oct 2020". Routesonline. Retrieved August 19, 2020.
  17. ^ "Starlux Airlines Schedules mid-April 2025 Kobe Launch".
  18. ^ Strong, Matthew (April 18, 2025). "Taiwan's Starlux lands inaugural overseas flight at Kobe in Japan". Taiwan News. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
  19. ^ "Toki Air Begins Niigata – Kobe Service in SN25". Aeroroutes. Retrieved March 31, 2025.
  20. ^ "International terminal opens at Kobe Airport, weekly charters". The Asahi Shimbun. April 17, 2025. Retrieved April 21, 2025.
  21. ^ "Starlux plans to launch regular Taipei and Taichung - Kobe charters in April 2025". Japan Aviation Hub. December 5, 2024. Retrieved December 6, 2024.
  22. ^ 暦年・年度別空港管理状況調書 (in Japanese). Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
  23. ^ "神戸空港へ最速16分半　ポートライナー延伸部分が開業". Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). February 6, 2002. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
  24. ^ Yamaguchi, Makiko (April 20, 2025). "バスじゃ1時間以上の「関空～神戸空港」、実は「超ラクに行ける手段」あります！ 実際に乗ってみたら広いしスグだし". Traffic News (in Japanese). Retrieved April 22, 2025.
  25. ^ "Kobe Airport closes runway after small plane makes belly-landing". NHK. May 31, 2024.
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