Expo 2025 is scheduled to be held in Osaka, Japan from 4/13/2025 through 10/13/2025.

Are there any North American or European cities not currently served nonstop from KIX that would be likely to get nonstop service to KIX in 2025 with the increased demand that would be there to KIX from Europe and North America in 2025 due to Expo 2025? If so, which North American or European cities are likely to get nonstop service to KIX in 2025?

I'd say Osaka KIX has enough for the service it has. Pre-COVID KIX was connected to HEL, FRA, LHR, CDG in Europe, SFO/LAX in the Americas.

I'm not sure that I even want to start thinking about 2025 . . .

ZRH on LX was just announced months before covid hit the industry.

Doubt it. These expos have nowhere near the same draw they had decades ago.

No one bite my head off please. But why not TK adding IST-KIX ?

Currently kansai airport is upgrading terminal 1 by expanding security area and reconfiguring airside facilities so that it can serve 40m pax in 2025

fromheretohere9 wrote:

No one bite my head off please. But why not TK adding IST-KIX ?

They do plan to start the flight in last summer but delayed due to Covid-19

2025 is still a long way away to even think of additional flights.
If I were to guess, there may be additional flights from the Asia-Pacific region but I don't think you will see new flights from the Americas or Europe.

x1234 wrote:

I'd say Osaka KIX has enough for the service it has. Pre-COVID KIX was connected to HEL, FRA, LHR, CDG in Europe, SFO/LAX in the Americas.

Amsterdam

Flanker7 wrote:

x1234 wrote:

I'd say Osaka KIX has enough for the service it has. Pre-COVID KIX was connected to HEL, FRA, LHR, CDG in Europe, SFO/LAX in the Americas.

Amsterdam

KLM does fly Amsterdam to Osaka, as does Aeroflot from Moscow Sheremetyevo and Turkish Airlines from Istanbul. That makes the total number of European airlines at Kansai 7, quite a significant number. By the way, Lufthansa serves Kansai from Munich instead of Frankfurt.

The American market is way more homogeneous, only a few airlines from even fewer airports. Leaving out Honolulu, which is well-connected, only Vancouver (Air Canada), Seattle (Delta), San Francisco (United) and Los Angeles (Japan Airlines) are served from Kansai. That's all west coast, nothing more inland. No New York, Chicago or Atlanta for example.

American Airlines does not fly to Osaka at all. For an event like Expo 2025 I think they would want to try something. Maybe they can cater to the eastern half of the USA with a route like Chicago - Osaka.

PatrickZ80 wrote:

Flanker7 wrote:

x1234 wrote:

I'd say Osaka KIX has enough for the service it has. Pre-COVID KIX was connected to HEL, FRA, LHR, CDG in Europe, SFO/LAX in the Americas.

Amsterdam

KLM does fly Amsterdam to Osaka, as does Aeroflot from Moscow Sheremetyevo and Turkish Airlines from Istanbul. That makes the total number of European airlines at Kansai 7, quite a significant number. By the way, Lufthansa serves Kansai from Munich instead of Frankfurt.

The American market is way more homogeneous, only a few airlines from even fewer airports. Leaving out Honolulu, which is well-connected, only Vancouver (Air Canada), Seattle (Delta), San Francisco (United) and Los Angeles (Japan Airlines) are served from Kansai. That's all west coast, nothing more inland. No New York, Chicago or Atlanta for example.

American Airlines does not fly to Osaka at all. For an event like Expo 2025 I think they would want to try something. Maybe they can cater to the eastern half of the USA with a route like Chicago - Osaka.

Weren't there whispers of KIX-DFW on AA or JL before covid?

TWA772LR wrote:

PatrickZ80 wrote:

Flanker7 wrote:

Amsterdam

KLM does fly Amsterdam to Osaka, as does Aeroflot from Moscow Sheremetyevo and Turkish Airlines from Istanbul. That makes the total number of European airlines at Kansai 7, quite a significant number. By the way, Lufthansa serves Kansai from Munich instead of Frankfurt.

The American market is way more homogeneous, only a few airlines from even fewer airports. Leaving out Honolulu, which is well-connected, only Vancouver (Air Canada), Seattle (Delta), San Francisco (United) and Los Angeles (Japan Airlines) are served from Kansai. That's all west coast, nothing more inland. No New York, Chicago or Atlanta for example.

American Airlines does not fly to Osaka at all. For an event like Expo 2025 I think they would want to try something. Maybe they can cater to the eastern half of the USA with a route like Chicago - Osaka.

Weren't there whispers of KIX-DFW on AA or JL before covid?

Didn't AA fly this in the past and back in the day NW did DTW-KIX

bfitzflyer wrote:

TWA772LR wrote:

PatrickZ80 wrote:

American Airlines does not fly to Osaka at all. For an event like Expo 2025 I think they would want to try something. Maybe they can cater to the eastern half of the USA with a route like Chicago - Osaka.

Weren't there whispers of KIX-DFW on AA or JL before covid?

Didn't AA fly this in the past and back in the day NW did DTW-KIX

The circumstances have changed since AA last flew DFW-KIX due to Osaka-based Kubota now having its North American headquarters in Grapevine, TX near DFW Airport. However, I was asking the question of whether more nonstop flights would get added to KIX from the U.S., Canada, and Europe in 2025 due to the increased demand that would likely be there to KIX in 2025 due to the Expo 2025.

Expo will be big boost to the city, but also should take into consideration the amount of traffic that will come into the city via ITM. Plenty of capacity between the TYO airports and ITM with JL & NH allowing for easy JV alliance connections. Every time I have been to Osaka its been via a Tokyo airport connection.

eurotrader85 wrote:

Expo will be big boost to the city, but also should take into consideration the amount of traffic that will come into the city via ITM. Plenty of capacity between the TYO airports and ITM with JL & NH allowing for easy JV alliance connections. Every time I have been to Osaka its been via a Tokyo airport connection.

It might make sense for an European or North American airline to fly nonstop to KIX instead of having to connect passengers onto JL/NH TYO-OSA nonstop flights if the majority of the passengers aboard that carrier's flights to TYO were making connections to OSA, especially with both NRT and HND being slot-restricted.

European and North American airlines can also more easily add more nonstop flights to KIX if necessary, whereas the NRT/HND slot restrictions limit the amount of service that North American and European carriers can add to TYO.

It’s a nice airport. At times JAL have given it a soft subsidy by using it where possible as a connecting hub, to maybe goose the numbers a bit, by making it a cheaper connecting point than NRT and optimising it in search engines and GDS. Nice for me because when I flew JAL from Sydney to London in 2005, SYD KIX was a lovely old 747-346. KIX LHR was an endless daylight 747-446, that flight is long gone alas. (In fact in the last years before Covid, I don’t even think JAL flew NRT LHR; only from HND.)

I wouldn’t expect too much. In any case, Expo is not a huge draw for European and North American visitors. The majority will come from ROK, PRC and SE Asia.