1 Osaka Airport" near the mouth of the Yamato River, also targeted at seaplanes, but concerns about fog and protests from Kobe-based businesses led the government to build the "No.

U.S. occupation forces took over Osaka Airport after the end of World War II in 1945, expanding it to 221 hectares and renaming it Itami Air Base.

Northwest Airlines was a major international operator at Itami, and by 1992 offered nonstop service to New York, Los Angeles, Honolulu and Sydney.

In 1993, after Australia demanded arbitration and the US implemented retaliatory sanctions against Qantas, Northwest was forced to limit the amount of local Australia-Japan traffic on the Osaka-Sydney route, and subsequently abandoned the service entirely.

A number of factors made the airport an intensely debated political issue in the 1960s and 1970s, among them: Jet flights at Itami began on June 1, 1964, and triggered complaints by neighboring residents about noise pollution.

[8] In addition, eminent domain procedures were used in 1966 to obtain land for the runway expansion at Itami and led to local protests, as had also been the case in the construction of Narita International Airport near Tokyo.

[8] By the mid-1970s, the airport was subject to extensive slot restrictions, with operations limited to 200 jets and 170 propeller aircraft per day, and no takeoffs or landings allowed after 9 PM.

[citation needed] These restrictions led the major domestic airlines to adopt more widebody aircraft in ultra-high-density configurations on Itami routes.

The introduction of these widebodies caused additional concern among locals who protested the increased pollution and greater dangers in the event of a crash.

[citation needed] Because of the political friction surrounding Itami, planners began work in the 1970s to relocate many of its flights to an offshore location.

[14] All Nippon Airways retains a large maintenance base at Itami which occasionally services aircraft ferried in from overseas without passengers, and some international cargo flights continue to use the airport as well.

All Nippon Airways flew a 747 to Itami on January 12, 2014, the first 747 operation at the airport in eight years, for an open house event to commemorate the upcoming retirement of ANA's 747 fleet in March 2014.

[17] NKIAC started free shuttle bus service between Itami and Kansai for transfer passengers in order to further integrate the two as a single hub.

In 2009, Hashimoto proposed closing Itami and converting the site into an "International Campus Freedom City" operating in the English language with 20,000 residents; the governor of Hyogo criticized the idea as "complete nonsense.

"[25] Hashimoto later expressed support for Transport Minister Seiji Maehara's plan to maintain Itami with further restrictions on the size of aircraft.

Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Civil Aviation Bureau 2014 The only direct railway connection to the airport is the Osaka Monorail, which serves the northern suburbs of Osaka, connecting to the Hankyu Takarazuka Main Line at Hotarugaike Station and the Kita-Osaka Kyuko Railway (Midōsuji Line) at Senri-Chuo Station.

[32] Hyogo Prefecture also considered building a light rail system from the airport to central Itami around 2007, but was unwilling to commit funding for the project due to profitability concerns.

[32] An April 2018 study by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism concluded that a 4 km, 70 billion yen spur line from Sone to the airport, allowing one-stop express service to Umeda in around 20 minutes, would deliver a greater benefit-cost ratio than many other Japanese rail projects in terms of the number of passengers assisted, but would not be profitable at Hankyu's standard fare level and would require a significant surcharge in order to break even.

[35] The name was chosen from over 1,900 suggestions sent to airport operators, and is a combination of Sora, Japanese for "Sky", and Yan, a word used for emphasis in the local dialect.