Takumi Harada/AP
Kansai International Airport will celebrate its 30th anniversary in 2024.
CNN
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Singapore and Doha airports are competing with each other for the title ofworld’s best”, different aviation hubs focus on different outcomes. Japan’s Kansai International Airport (KIX) has celebrated 30 years without losing a single piece of luggage.
Japan’s seventh-busiest airport said in a press statement that it had never lost any passenger baggage since it opened in September 1994. The airport carries an average of 20 million to 30 million passengers annually.
While airline passengers are probably happy to know their luggage will make it to its destination, there’s one group that doesn’t make a big deal of the accomplishment. It’s an airport employee.
Kansai public relations officer Kenji Takanishi told CNN, “I don’t feel like we’re doing anything special.”
“We’ve been working as usual. We just do our day-to-day work and we just want to be recognized for that. I’m really happy to have won this award. Our staff, especially those working on the ground, I think I’m more satisfied.”
UK-based aviation rankings and ratings website Skytrax World’s best airport baggage delivery With the award being presented in April.
It’s worth noting that baggage handlers and ground staff have never lost a bag, according to the airport. But if you get lost on your way to or from Kansai International Airport, it may be the fault of the individual airline rather than the airport itself.
Kansai is built on an artificial island in Osaka Bay and serves the Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe regions. In 2024, Kansai Airport was ranked 18th overall in the world, ahead of neighboring Tokyo, Narita (5th), and Haneda (4th).
Timely arrival of baggage is just one of the factors considered when naming the “world’s best” airport. Food and drink provision, on-time arrival and departure ratios, and cleanliness are also taken into consideration.
Currently, preparations are underway in Kansai for the 2025 World Expo (World Expo) to be held in Osaka.
Editor’s note: CNN’s Mai Nishiyama contributed reporting.
