Kansai opened on 4 September 1994 to relieve overcrowding at Osaka International Airport, also called Itami Airport, which is closer to Osaka. It consists of two terminals: Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. Terminal 1, designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano, is the longest airport terminal in the world with a length of 1.7 km (1+1⁄16 mi). The airport serves as an international hub for All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines, and Nippon Cargo Airlines and as a hub for Peach, the first international low-cost carrier in Japan.[citation needed] It is also the North Pacific hub for the FedEx Express, which obtained its fifth-right under the 1998 U.S. and Japan air agreement and established the Hub in 2014.[9][3]
In 2019, 31.9 million passengers used the airport, making it the third busiest in Japan. The freight volume was 802,162 tonnes total: 757,414 t international (18th in the world) and 44,748 t domestic.[10] The 4,000 m × 60 m (13,120 ft × 200 ft) second runway was opened on 2 August 2007. As of June 2014, Kansai Airport has become an Asian hub, with 780 weekly flights to Asia and Australasia (including 119 freight), 59 weekly flights to Europe and the Middle East (5 freight), and 80 weekly flights to North America (42 freight).[11]
In 2020, Kansai was ranked the tenth-best airport in the world by Skytrax and received its awards for Best Airport Staff in Asia, World's Best Airport Staff, and World's Best Airport for Baggage Delivery.[12][13]