The temporary shutdown in Osaka of one of Japan’s busiest airports has left airlines serving Honolulu from Kansai International scrambling to accommodate passengers who have been affected by the strongest typhoon to hit the country in 25 years.
Airlines are offering passengers options that include postponing their flight, waiving change fees, providing a full refund or rerouting to another airport after Typhoon Jebi came ashore Tuesday with sustained winds of 100 miles per hour and caused destruction in Osaka and nearby cities.
The five airlines that regularly fly between Honolulu and Osaka are Hawaiian Airlines, Delta Airlines, AirAsia X, Scoot and Japan Airlines. They had 167 scheduled flights carrying 45,385 seats from Osaka to Honolulu this month, according to the Hawaii Tourism Authority.
Asiana Airlines has flown three flights this year between Honolulu and Osaka but had no flights scheduled for September.
Kyodo news agency said domestic flights at Kansai airport will resume Friday. Kyodo reported today that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said international flights would restart when the airport is ready. The airport in western Japan is a gateway for Asian tourists visiting Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe.
Hawaiian said it is allowing passengers to rebook on other flights between Hawaii and Japan, including extra flights it has added between Honolulu and Narita International Airport in Tokyo. It also is waiving change fees for a designated travel period.
Scoot, which flies Singapore-Osaka-Honolulu four times a week, said it is allowing passengers to postpone their flight to a later travel date with fare difference and change fee waived, get a full refund, receive a refund voucher amounting to 120 percent of the flight value or get the option of rerouting to Scoot’s other Japan points. For affected passengers in Osaka, Scoot is providing the option of returning to Singapore via Narita. For affected passengers in Honolulu, Scoot is rescheduling flights to operate Honolulu-Singapore directly, instead of Honolulu-Osaka-Singapore.
AirAsia X, which flies four times a week from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, through Osaka and on to Honolulu, said it is allowing passengers to reschedule the flights within 14 calendar days from the original scheduled flight without additional cost, reroute the flight, receive a credit for the flight or obtain a full refund.
The closure had raised concerns about impacts on tourism and the economy.
“If Kansai Airport is unusable for a long time, it would have a certain impact on the regional economy as well as the Japanese economy overall, as the airport is a key trading hub for companies,” MUFG Bank analyst Akira Yoshimura told NHK public television.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
