Tokyo - The operator of a major airport in western Japan reopened part of its main terminal building on Friday, 10 days after a powerful typhoon battered the region, inundating its facilities and one of its runways.
Kansai International Airport, which is located on an artificial island, was scheduled to resume 38 domestic and 98 international flights at Terminal 1, 34 per cent of its pre-storm traffic.
Domestic flights resumed at the airport's Terminal 2, which mainly handles budget airlines, a week ago.
Typhoon Jebi, the most powerful storm to hit Japan in 25 years, lashed Osaka and surrounding areas on September 4, flooding the main terminal and the runway.
The storm, which left 11 dead and hundreds of people injured in western Japan, stranded thousands at the airport, after a tanker, which had been anchored in Osaka Bay, slammed into the bridge connecting the airport with the mainland.
The operator plans to gradually resume more flights, increasing the number to about 50 per cent of the normal figure by Thursday and aims to reopen the rest of Terminal 1 next Friday.
Meanwhile, the government has decided to redirect 70 flights per day to nearby Osaka International Airport and Kobe Airport, Transport Minister Keiichi Ishii told a news conference on Thursday.