<h2 class="blog-hed2 pb-lg-4 pb-3 text-lg-center">History Osaka International Airport</h2>
<p class="blog-para">Osaka Airport (第二大阪飛行場, Dai-ni Ōsaka Hikōjō) 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.</p>
<p class="blog-para"><strong>Osaka Airport domestic terminal 1971.</strong></p>
<p class="blog-para">Domestic Terminal seen in 1971, with a handful of Boeing 727s and NAMC-YS 11</p>
<p class="blog-para">Itami was renamed Osaka Airport (大阪空港, Ōsaka Kūkō) following its return to Japanese control in March 1959. The Japanese government quickly implemented a plan to expand the airport by an additional 82.5 ha so that it could accommodate jet aircraft. Despite some protests from locals, the plan was approved by the neighboring city assemblies between 1960 and 1961 with strong backing from local business groups, and land was purchased between 1962 and 1964, in part out of the aviation industry's interest in keeping pace with the development of the Tokaido Shinkansen high-speed rail link between Tokyo and Osaka. The main runway was completed in 1970</p>
<h2 class="blog-hed2 pb-lg-4 pb-3 text-lg-left">Ground transportation from Osaka International Airport</h2>
<p class="blog-para"><strong>Rail: </strong>The only direct railway connection to the airport is the Osaka Monorail, which serves the northern suburbs of Osaka, connecting to the Hankyu Takarazuka Main Line at Hotarugaike Station and the Kita-Osaka Kyuko Railway (Midōsuji Line) at Senri-Chuo Station.</p>
<p class="blog-para">Several plans have been formulated for improving rail access to the airport. Hankyu considered building a spur from the Takarazuka Line to the airport in the 1970s, but did not proceed with the project due to capacity constraints on the Takarazuka Line; Hankyu reportedly re-commenced</p>
<p class="blog-para">studies of the project in 2017. JR West announced a plan to build a line to the airport from Itami around 1989 but never proceeded, due in part to the 2005 Amagasaki derailment and demand concerns following the opening of Kobe Airport. Hyogo Prefecture also considered building a light rail system from the airport to central Itami around 2007, but was unwilling to commit funding for the project due to profitability concerns. An April 2018 study by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism concluded that a 4 km, 70 billionyen spur line from Sone to the airport, allowing one-stop express service to Umeda in around 20 minutes, would deliver a greater benefit-cost ratio than many other Japanese rail projects in terms of the number of passengers assisted, but would not be profitable at Hankyu's standard fare level and would require a significant surcharge in order to break even.</p>
<p class="blog-para"><strong>Road:</strong> Itami Airport is directly connected to the Hanshin Expressway Ikeda Route and is five minutes' drive from the Chugoku Expressway, making it possible to reach central Osaka by car or bus in 25 to 30 minutes, central Kobe in 40 minutes and central Kyoto in 55 minutes.</p>
<p><img class="img-fluid p-lg-0 rounded w-100" title="Osaka    Airport" src="../../main/img/airport/osa/1.webp" alt="Osaka   Airport" width="950px" height="500px"></p>