Kansai Airport, Japan.
Three decades without losing a suitcase. Japanese airport serves three cities and is highlighted in the 2024 edition of the World Airport Awards for outstanding baggage delivery.
O Kansai Airportwhich serves the cities of Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe, stands out worldwide for its excellence in luggage handling, and has had 30 years without any records of lost luggage.
This notable achievement earned the Japanese airport the title of Best Airport in the World for Baggage Delivery in the 2024 edition of , an assessment conducted by a British entity specializing in airport classification.
During busy periods, Kansai Airport processes up to 30,000 bags per day, according to , which cites The Washington Post. The exemplary performance results from a rigorous sorting and conveyor belt transportation system, complemented by sensors and the surveillance of employees, who monitor the baggage area at all times.
An example of attention to detail is the arrangement of bags in the collection area: luggage handles are manually aligned by employees to facilitate access for passengers.
This is the eighth time that Kansai has won this award, positioning itself this year in 18th place overall in the world ranking of the 100 best airports in the world, led by Hamad Airport, in Doha, capital of Qatar. You Porto and Lisbon airports ranked 80th and 90threspectively.
Despite everything, Kansai Airport faces some challenges, including a very scary one: is sinking very quickly.
Built on a wet artificial ‘sponge’ island, the airport is sinking at an average sinking rate of more than a foot per year, according to sources at The Sun newspaper.
Initially, engineers predicted that the structures would descend to a level of 13 feet above sea level over a 50-year period — a threshold considered essential to prevent floodwaters from breaching the airport seawall. However, this threshold was reached in just six years.
