The Kansai International Airport Company (KIAC) has reported that the number of departing and arriving foreign travellers in March fell by 23% to 215,750, following the March 11 earthquake, the tsunami and the subsequent nuclear crisis.

However, the combined number of daily arrivals of both international and domestic flights rose by 3%, but this was distorted by the large number of airlines that diverted their aircraft from Tokyo Narita International Airport after the earthquake hit north eastern and eastern Japan, plus news of the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. 

The increase was also attributable to rises in the number of arrivals for refuelling and crew replacement purposes, the company said.

For all of fiscal 2010 through March, the overall number of departing and arriving flights fell by two per cent to 106,873, while the combined number of passengers on these incoming and outgoing flights rose by 5% to 14.18m. 

The number of foreign travellers on international flights rose by 20% to a record 3,461,893 at Osaka’s main airport.