Kagoshima Airport KOJ

Kagoshima Airport is the main airport of southern Kyushu. It is not in Kagoshima city itself but in Kirishima, about 30 km to the northeast, inland and right by the Kyushu Expressway. It is one of the busiest airports on the island, with about 6.1 million passengers in 2018, and the route to Tokyo Haneda is among the busiest domestic routes in Japan. It is also the base of the regional airline Japan Air Commuter.

Terminals

There is a domestic terminal with nine gates and a much smaller international terminal with a single gate. They are separate, so if you connect between a domestic and an international flight, allow plenty of time to leave one building and enter the other.

Airlines and destinations

On domestic routes you will find ANA, JAL, Skymark and Peach, with connections to Tokyo Haneda, Osaka, Nagoya and Okinawa, plus Japan Air Commuter, which links to islands such as Yakushima. Internationally, the main destinations are Seoul and Taipei, with other Asian routes depending on the season.

Services

There are ANA and JAL lounges. The rooftop has an observation deck overlooking the surrounding mountains, and next to an entrance of the domestic terminal you will find a free hot-spring foot bath (ashiyu), a very Kyushu touch.

Tips

Because the airport is far from the city, allow about 40 minutes to reach Kagoshima-Chuo Station and do not leave your return trip to the last minute. If you are heading to the islands or the interior of the prefecture, you can connect here to regional flights.