Kobe Airport UKB

Kobe Airport (UKB) sits on an artificial island in Osaka Bay, about 8 km south of central Kobe and close to Sannomiya Station. It opened in 2006 and was designed partly to relieve congestion at Itami. A medium-sized regional airport, it handled around 3.6 million passengers in 2024 and mainly serves travellers heading to Kobe and its surroundings, or those looking for a calmer alternative to Itami and Kansai.

Terminals

There are two: Terminal 1, for domestic flights and directly connected to the automated train station, and Terminal 2, for international flights, which opened in April 2025. You only need Terminal 2 if you are flying to South Korea or Taiwan; all other flights use Terminal 1.

Airlines and destinations

Services are mostly domestic, with Skymark Airlines, ANA, Air Do and Fuji Dream Airlines. The key links are Tokyo Haneda and Sapporo, plus other Japanese cities. International flights to South Korea and Taiwan are recent and the schedule can change, so check with your airline before planning your trip.

Services

Inside you will find shops, restaurants and observation decks for watching the planes.

Tips

Kobe has limited opening hours, with no flights in the early morning or late at night, so check your flight time if you arrive or depart very early or very late. The Kansai area has three airports (Kobe, Itami and Kansai), so make sure your ticket says UKB. If you are heading to Kansai Airport, a high-speed ferry runs from Kobe in about 30 minutes.