FedEx Express has inked a deal with Japan’s Kansai International Airport Co. to set up a North-Pacific regional hub at the Osaka-based airport. The 25,000-square-meter facility, which is slated to open in the spring of 2014, will enable FedEx to consolidate shipments bound to the U.S. from northern Asia, according to a press release.
The FedEx North Pacific Regional Hub will include Customs clearance, as well as ramp operations and sort-and-transshipment functions. It will also operate around the clock, according to the press release, benefiting from 24-hour availability.
David Cunningham Jr., president of FedEx Express’ Asia-Pacific division, said the company’s decision to establish a North-Pacific hub was based on Asia’s emergence as a global powerhouse. In fact, Cunningham said, Asia’s trade volume is projected to reach $14 trillion by 2025.
“With the establishment of the FedEx NPAC Regional Hub, we will be able to provide a superior level of service to our customers within and outside of the APAC region,” Cunningham said in a statement. “I believe the new facility will play a major role in contributing to Asia’s growing economy.”
Shinichi Fukushima, president of Kansai International Airport Co., echoed Cunningham’s comments. “I know that the NPAC Regional Hub will have a major impact on global shipping, and we are prepared to fully support FedEx via our 24-hour operations and by offering plenty of space for further development,” he stated.
The new facility won’t affect FedEx’s Asia-Pacific hub in Guangzhou, China, according to the press release.
This is a GREAT win for the Kansai Int’l airport… long one of the most expensive (and by extension, underutilized) major airports. Having this much traffic should help even out the utilization costs, and by extension, may make it more attractive for more passenger service as well.
…now if only they could close that pesky Itami.
Given that the U.S. and Japan recently signed an “open skies” aviation agreement that deregulates transpacific air services for both passenger and air cargo services between the two countries and beyond to third countries, I don’t think FedEx Express will have any problem getting approval to link its new Asian hub at Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan to other third-country destinations such as London, Paris and Singapore, especially nations that have similar bilateral air pacts with the U.S. In fact, the Japanese government must be thrilled that FedEx is interested in KIX as a way to get foreign airlines to use Japanese airports other than Tokyo’s crowded Narita and Haneda airports although FedEx expressed interest in serving Haneda.
ONE OF THE JAPANESE A/L’s or U. S. Airlines should fly
a 747-8M (Combi) into KIX. One Aircraft, Two Service, Psgr
and Air Cargo Service upper deck. KLM/AF still flying there
1994, B747-400M “Combis”. One Airplane, Two Services and
Full Weight & Revenue Load.I DID IT & IT is up to you to dis-
cover the Air Line I was working for….It is all there. Ernesto
Schimmer, The Air Cargo Junky, And Sixty Years in the Air
Cargo Business with Six World Class Air Lines. Ernesto