Itami Airport opened as in 1939. Prior to the opening of Itami,
Kizugawa Airport was Osaka's main civilian airport. It handled both
seaplanes and conventional ones. The site of Kizugawa Airport is now a port area in Funamachi in south end of
Taisho Ward with only a small marker located in Funamachi Ryokuchi Park below the
Shin-Kizugawa Bridge. In 1931, the Osaka municipal government drafted plans to construct a new "No. 1 Osaka Airport" near the mouth of the Yamato River, also targeted at seaplanes, but concerns about
fog and protests from Kobe-based businesses led the government to build the "No. 2 Airport" for land-based aircraft instead. Construction began in July 1936 on a 53-
hectare (131 acre) site. The new airport opened on January 17, 1939, and was primarily used by the
Imperial Japanese Army during its early years. It had four runways at the time, ranging in length from 1,100 to 1,600 m, and could handle aircraft as large as the
Douglas DC-3.
U.S. occupation U.S. occupation forces took over Osaka No. 2 Airport after the end of World War II in 1945, expanding it to 221 hectares and renaming it
Itami Air Base. The airfield was used extensively by US forces during the
Korean War. In 1954,
Marilyn Monroe and
Joe DiMaggio stopped at Itami during their honeymoon, and in 1956, the base was used in the filming of the movie
Sayonara.
Japan Airlines operated its inaugural flight between Itami and Tokyo's
Haneda Airport on October 25, 1951, using a
Martin 2-0-2 aircraft leased from
Northwest Airlines. JAL initially operated from a small joint-use section of the U.S. air base. the runways and terminals at Osaka lacked the capacity to handle larger jets such as the
de Havilland Comet,
Douglas DC-8 and
Boeing 707, which had already begun operating at Tokyo's
Haneda Airport in 1959. The Sydney service became the focus of a rare aviation agreement dispute between the United States and Australia, as less than 30% of passengers on the Australia-Japan segment were originating in the U.S. even though the "primary objective" of the route authority, according to the US-Australia aviation agreement, was service between the US and Australia. In 1993, after Australia demanded arbitration and the US implemented retaliatory sanctions against
Qantas, Northwest was forced to limit the amount of local Australia-Japan traffic on the Osaka-Sydney route, and subsequently abandoned the service entirely.
BOAC operated in Osaka until 1974, flying from either
Taipei or
Tokyo.
Political friction in 2022 While Japan's economy was growing rapidly, the area around Itami Airport became an increasingly dense residential area for commuters to Osaka. A number of factors made the airport an intensely debated political issue in the 1960s and 1970s, among them: • The introduction of
jet aircraft made noise and air pollution a growing concern among locals. • The
United States Armed Forces had rights to use Itami Airport for refueling and maintenance, and frequently sent military aircraft there for overhauls at the
Shin Maywa Industries plant there. This activity caused consternation among locals who were opposed to the
Vietnam War. Jet flights at Itami began on June 1, 1964, and triggered complaints by neighboring residents about
noise pollution. In May 1968, a group of local citizens decided to sue the government for damages related to noise pollution from Itami Airport. The lawsuit was filed in December 1969. The Japanese government concurrently banned takeoffs and landings at Itami between 10:30 PM and 6:30 AM, effective February 1970. – and by
Asiana Airlines charter flights to and from South Korea in late 2015.
All Nippon Airways retains a large maintenance base at Itami which occasionally services aircraft ferried in from overseas without passengers, and some international cargo flights continue to use the airport as well. The policy of the Japanese government has been to limit operations at Itami in order to spur development at Kansai and Kobe. The government proposed changing Itami's status from first-class airport to second-class airport, which would saddle local governments with one-third of its operating costs; after protests from the surrounding local authorities, the national government withdrew this proposal. The government also proposed banning widebody aircraft from Itami, although this proposal was criticized as unrealistic given the volume of traffic there. In May 2011, the
Diet of Japan passed legislation to form a new Kansai International Airport Corporation using the state's existing equity stake in Kansai Airport and its property holdings at Itami Airport. The move was aimed at offsetting Kansai Airport's debt burden. NKIAC started free shuttle bus service between Itami and Kansai for transfer passengers in order to further integrate the two as a single hub. Itami has also seen increased domestic passenger traffic in 2013 following the easing of flight restrictions, which was possible due to propeller aircraft being replaced by quieter regional jets; JAL was able to increase the frequency on its Itami-Fukuoka route from two flights to five flights daily, making the route more competitive with the
Sanyō Shinkansen rail service. In September 2013, NKIAC announced that it would acquire Osaka Airport Terminal Co. for 27.8 billion yen, which an NKIAC official called the "last piece" of the integration of both airports' management. NKIAC plans to market Itami Airport to business travelers by touting its convenience for domestic business travel and improving its connectivity to
Narita International Airport, while continuing to market Kansai Airport to leisure and international travelers. Following
Typhoon Jebi, which resulted in the temporary closure of Kansai Airport in September 2018, operating hours at both Itami and Kobe were extended, and the government began considering permitting international service at all three Osaka area airports.
Japan Airlines later announced that it would operate two special flights between Itami and Hong Kong in mid-October 2018. These would be the first scheduled international passenger flights to or from Itami in 24 years.
Plans Itami is limited to domestic flights, and can only handle 18 landings per hour and 370 landings per day. , NKIAC is considering providing more leniency to the aforementioned restrictions through negotiations with local authorities, on the basis that advances in technology have allowed modern aircraft to be quieter than those in operation when the restrictions were imposed. NKIAC hopes to coordinate with local governments to increase the number of slots allowed during the day and to open additional slots during nighttime hours. Both
Hyogo Prefecture and
Itami City are supporters of expanded service at Itami, and established a formal coordination body in July 2013 to propose further reforms such as allowing international charter flights, and to engage in local efforts such as improving ground transportation and publicizing the airport's convenience. They planned to enlist the support of the other neighboring municipalities of Toyonaka, Takarazuka and Ikeda. On the other hand, the Japanese government has supported Kansai at Itami's expense, Hashimoto later expressed support for Transport Minister
Seiji Maehara's plan to maintain Itami with further restrictions on the size of aircraft.
2015~ Privatization Kansai International Airport Corporation conducted a public tender to sell the operating rights for
Kansai and Itami Airport in May 2015. A consortium of
Orix,
Vinci SA owning 40% of shares, with the remainder 20% owned by Kansai-based enterprises such as
Hankyu Hanshin Holdings and
Panasonic was the sole bidder for the 45-year contract, at a price of around $18 billion. This new operating company, called
Kansai Airports, has been operating
Kansai and Itami airports since April 1, 2016, as well as the region's third airport
Kobe Airport, since April 1, 2018. On January 30, 2025, the airport's English name and signs were officially changed to "Osaka Itami Airport", to avoid confusion as some travelers could mistake the "Osaka International Airport" name which has no international flights, with Kansai International Airport. ==Terminal==