2018 Summer-Schedule International Flights to Hit a Record of 1,366 a Week

Kansai Airports is pleased to announce that international scheduled flights at Kansai International Airport (KIX) are likely to reach a record high of 1,366 a week in the 2018 summer schedule (during September peak) due to an increase in mid- and long-haul flights to Europe and Honolulu as well as growth in international cargo flights. This represents an increase of 62 flights per week compared to summer 2017 and 10 flights a week compared to winter 2017. International passenger flights are expected to hit a record of 1,219 a week while international cargo traffic will stand at 147, reaching the third highest record for summer schedule.

Mid- and long-haul international passenger flights from KIX to all four destinations in Europe* will be back to daily service with Air France (AF) resuming its daily operation on the KIX-Paris route for the first time in three years since summer 2015. Japan Airlines (JL) will also increase the frequency of its weekly flights between KIX and Honolulu from 7 to 14 from April 27, adding up to a total of 36 weekly flights on the route (+11 flights from summer 2017). In addition, Qantas Airways (QF) will continue offering three weekly KIX-Sydney flights, launched last December, as a year-round service.

As for South East Asia, Jetstar Asia Airways (3K) will launch a new route between KIX and Clark – the first scheduled passenger service connecting Japan with Clark, the Philippines. Scoot (TR) will also add one more weekly flight to Singapore via Kaohsiung, making the total number of flights to South East Asia 156 flights a week (+19 flights from summer 2017).

*Flights to Paris (Air France/AF), Amsterdam (KLM/KL), Frankfurt (Lufthansa/LH) and Helsinki (Finnair/AY)
The international cargo network is also growing as existing airlines have been increasing the frequency of their cargo flights. Other factors include continued service of Azerbaijanbased Silk Way West Airlines’ (7L) one weekly flight to Baku and German-based Lufthansa Cargo's (LH) two weekly flights to Frankfurt, launched in December 2017 and January 2018, respectively.

In terms of domestic passenger flights, Peach (MM) started KIX-Niigata service from March 1 which is to be followed by the launch of KIX-Kushiro service in this August. With these new services, KIX is and will be connected to Niigata and Kushiro again after 18 and 9 years, respectively.

The number of international LCC flights will be 472 flights a week (+41 flights from summer 2017), comprising 40% of the total international passenger flights. Domestic LCC flights at KIX on the other hand will be 36 flights a day (9 flights decreased from August 2017), representing more than 50% of total domestic flights.