Airport management in Japan: any lessons learnt from the UK?

The aim of this paper is to examine the possible involvement of private sector airport management in Japan, particularly at Kansai Airport. A comparison is undertaken with the UK airport industry, as some parallels can be drawn with this country around the 1990s when it went through a period of aviation liberalisation and privatisation of its airports. The findings suggest that private sector involvement in Japan has the potential to be successful, arguably as in the UK, and may help overcome certain problems facing Japanese airports, especially those associated with the funding system and lack of integrated airport management models. Financial problems at the airports, however, and especially the huge debt at Kansai, are likely to make it challenging to attract the private sector investors that are needed.