Japan's Kansai Airport May Close Runways as Typhoon Approaches

(Bloomberg) -- Kansai International Airport is considering temporarily shutting down its runways as soon as Sunday morning as a powerful typhoon is expected to approach the western Japan region, according to an official at the airport operator.

Closure of the two runways could halt all takeoffs and landings at the airport Sunday, said the official, who asked not to be identified because of the airport’s policy. The storm is not expected to affect operations on Saturday.

Typhoon Trami so far has affected flights in Okinawa prefecture, the southern Japan island chain with a large U.S. military presence. ANA Holdings Inc. decided to cancel all flights at the Naha, Miyako and Ishigaki airports on Saturday, according to ANA’s website. Japan Airlines Co. canceled 54 flights affecting 7,980 passengers as of 6 a.m. local time, the airline said in a statement.

More than half of the cities in Okinawa, which is scheduled to hold a gubernatorial election on Sunday, have decided to cancel early voting on Saturday, Kyodo reported, citing the prefecture’s election commission.

Kansai Airport, which lies on an artificial island in Osaka Bay, was forced to shut down earlier this month after Typhoon Jebi flooded its runways and damaged a rail bridge connecting it to the mainland. The airport is the country’s third-largest by passenger numbers, behind the Haneda and Narita facilities that serve Tokyo, and is the gateway to the Osaka region.

The operator has been preparing sandbags since Thursday and plans to deploy about 24,000 this weekend, the official said. The airport still has not fully recovered operations following Jebi, which was the strongest tropical cyclone to come ashore in the region in 25 years.

Trami was located about 120 kilometers southwest of Naha in Okinawa prefecture as of 9:50 a.m. local time, moving north at 15 kilometers per hour, according to Japan Meteorological Agency on its website.

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.