Osaka Airport Takes Off; More Rooms For Arrivals

<H1>Osaka Airport Takes Off; More Rooms For Arrivals</H1><H3>By Judy Jacobs</H3><I>Osaka</I> - With the dramatic increase in air service since the opening of Kansai International Airport and the rise in the number of Japanese companies establishing headquarters in the Kansai region, business travelers should see Osaka increasingly showing up on future itineraries. And two new hotels will add 751 rooms to serve them.

Many of the flights into Osaka are by U.S. carriers, which have expanded their service into the city since Kansai International opened a year ago. United doubled its lift capacity with a new daily Los Angeles-Osaka service and an increase in Honolulu flights from three times per week to daily. Northwest Airlines added 2,800 seats per week, with three additional Detroit-Osaka and four new Seattle-Osaka flights. Japan Airlines began daily Los Angeles-Osaka service, with 2,464 seats a week, and increased its weekly Osaka-Honolulu flights from 11 to 14.

Part of Kansai International's success can be attributed to the ease of making transfers to domestic flights at the airport. Unlike Tokyo, where passengers must make the grueling 90-minute journey from Narita to Haneda for a domestic connection, in Osaka they only need descend two floors.

KIX has taken advantage of the situation by establishing direct air links with 27 Japanese cities. The airport also supplies Japan's first direct international air links with Vietnam, Brunei, Nepal and Finland.

To help accommodate the presence of more business travelers, the city has announced two new hotel openings this year: the Imperial and the ANA Gate Tower.

The 390-room Imperial (Teikoku) Hotel-the sister property of Imperial Hotel Tokyo, Japan's oldest Western-style hotel-opened last month opposite Sakuranomiya Park in central Osaka.

Room rates range from $218 to $317 single; $267 or $366 double. The property will include 20 banquet rooms, totaling 17,988 square feet of space.

Each room is equipped with three telephone lines to accommodate fax machines and computers. The Imperial is a 10-minute walk from Sakuranomiya Station, which is only two stops from Umeda Station in the heart of the city's business district; and from the Minami-morimachi subway station.

The ANA Gate Tower will open Oct. 1 on a site overlooking Kansai International Airport. "Because of its location five minutes from the airport and because it is part of an office building, we will market it as both an airport property and a hotel for business travelers," said Jean Rosano, director of sales for ANA Hotels International in Los Angeles.

The 361-room ANA Gate plans to offer special conference rooms for foreign companies new to the Japanese market, where business travelers will be able to meet their Japanese counterparts and be supported by the hotel's secretarial, interpretation and translation services.

The property also has non-smoking floors and a 16-room business floor with a fax machine in each room.