Approach
After some 35 minutes in the air we already started descending, passing through the clouds…

…and “diving” into an impressive “sea of houses” for landing at an airport completely surrounded by residential areas:

Picture by Satchmo

Picture by Satchmo

We touched down at runway 34L and arrived at the gate at 11:09 – four minutes behind schedule.
Wingtip check by a ramper:

Osaka-Itami Airport
Even though the airport is officially designated as “Osaka International Airport”, the scheduled air traffic is entirely domestic. Kansai International Airport took over Osaka’s international traffic when it opened in 1994. Both Kansai (27 miles away) and Kobe Airport (16 miles away) are competitors for domestic traffic.
The area around ITM is densely populated which has resulted in protests against the airport over the years. In 1981 the Japanese Supreme Court of Japan ordered the government to pay damages to residents and impose limits on operating hours. There were even plans to close the airport following the opening of Kansai, but the idea was dropped due to economic reasons. Effective from April 2006, aircraft with more than two engines have been banned by the government.

Spotting Facilities
With roughly 17 million passengers per year, ITM is not among the busiest airports in Japan. The variety of airlines and aircraft is limited, but it’s a good place to catch the smaller types such as DHC-8-400s, CRJs or Saab 340s. However, what makes Itami such an enjoyable airport is the fantastic observation deck (free of charge). Many green spaces, small trees, colorful flowers and wooden planks provide for a special, somehow cozy atmosphere which you hardly find elsewhere.

Satchmo’s and PlaneHunter’s luggage and equipment – strategically placed next to drink vending machines. I can only recommend to try the Minute Maid grape juice.

The “ANA side”…

…with JA754A still parked at the gate…

…and the “JAL side” of the airport:

Food Plaza!
It’s not just the observation deck itself which makes Itami so attractive in my opinion – I was also impressed by the wide range of restaurants, shops and an outstanding bakery in the terminal hall. What a giant food plaza! Here’s what I bought at a restaurant and took to the observation deck: pieces of chicken breast, rice and fresh slices of ginger. Very tasty and rather quite cheap (some five Euro).

Viewing Park
Taking pictures can be difficult with the facing sun in the afternoon, so Satchmo took a bus and moved over to the other side of the airport where you can also find a large viewing park.

Picture by Satchmo

Evening Hours
Traffic can be low sometimes but it gets more busy in the late afternoon. Here’s JA754A again – being towed to its gate for a late afternoon departure to Haneda. Interestingly, it had been parked at a remote position all day after our arrival in the morning. Actually, no other 777-300 has arrived during our stay.

JA754A being prepared for takeoff under a pink sky:

An ANA 763 taking off during sunset – time to say goodbye for us:

Journey to Kansai
We bought tickets for the next available bus service to Kansai Airport and enjoyed a journey through Osaka’s dense evening traffic. After some 90 minutes we arrived at Kansai, decided to buy a reasonably-priced box of Sushi for dinner and took the shuttle bus to the Kanku Hineno Station Hotel located on the mainland. Fresh and tasty Sushi:

Conclusion
Flying ANA was a true pleasure again: friendly and efficient staff on the ground and in the air, clean cabin, sufficient seating comfort. I even got 417 M&M miles for that short (and cheapest available) flight – not bad considering that you only get 125 miles for similar LH short-haul flights. After finishing my series of Japan domestic flights I really can’t say which is my favorite carrier – I would fly all of them again, ANA, JAL and Skymark. In the end it depends on the fare and the aircraft type…

Next report: KIX-HEL-MUC on Finnair MD-11 and A320: http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=79452

Best Regards,
PlaneHunter