What airport is KIX?
Why the code is KIX
Kansai, plus the filler X.
The airport authority or a contemporaneous record states this directly.
The airport
- IATA code
- KIX
- ICAO code
- RJBB
- Airport
- Kansai International Airport
- City
- Osaka, Japan
- Opened
- 1994
- Code origin
- Documented
Kansai is built on an artificial island in Osaka Bay and has been sinking since it opened — considerably faster than the engineers predicted, which is why the terminal sits on hundreds of individually adjustable columns. It has never lost a passenger's luggage in over thirty years of operation, a record the airport publicises and nobody has disproved.
The other code, RJBB
Every airport has two codes. The three-letter IATA code, KIX, is the one on your boarding pass and your luggage tag, and it is assigned for commercial use. The four-letter ICAO code, RJBB, is the one pilots and controllers use, and it is assigned geographically: the first letter or two identify the region, so every airport in the same part of the world shares a prefix. That is why RJBB looks nothing like KIX.
Common questions
- What airport is KIX?
- Kansai International Airport, in Osaka, Japan.
- Why is Osaka's airport called KIX?
- Kansai, plus the filler X.
- What is the difference between KIX and RJBB?
- KIX is the IATA code, used commercially — tickets, timetables, luggage tags. RJBB is the ICAO code, used operationally by pilots and air traffic control, and assigned geographically by region.
Related pages
- Japan Capital, area, population and currency
- The flag of Japan Colours, symbols and lookalikes
- Airport codes in Japan 3 here
- What airport is HND? Tokyo Haneda Airport, Tokyo
- What airport is NRT? Narita International Airport, Tokyo
Sources
- OurAirports — OurAirports (Public domain)