Society

Kansai Airport resuming some intl. flights

Sep 08 (NHK) - The operator of the Kansai International Airport in western Japan says a budget carrier based in the airport will fly 12 international flights on Saturday. These will be the first international flights from the airport since a typhoon hit the facility.

The move follows the partial resumption of domestic flights on Friday. The airport, on a man-made island in Osaka Prefecture, has been forced to shut down since September 4th. This is due to flooding on one of its runways and the crash of a fuel tanker into a bridge that links the airport and the mainland.

The operator, Kansai Airports, has started using runway B and Terminal Two to resume part of the airport's operation. They were not greatly affected by the storm.

On Friday, Peach Aviation, a budget carrier based in the airport with counters in Terminal Two, flew 17 domestic flights and Japan Airlines flew 2 domestic flights.

Peach Aviation on Saturday will put into the sky 12 international flights, going between Kansai Airport and overseas cities like Seoul, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

But many other airlines, based in the damaged Terminal One, will remain unable to fly from the airport. The terminal remains without power.

Kansai Airports plans to reopen parts of Terminal One in about a week.

Meanwhile, operation of special shuttle bus has started between the airport and a railway station on the mainland. It is using bridge lanes that were not damaged by the tanker crash.

It is expected to take about a month to resume train services across the bridge.

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