Osaka

Osaka is a medium sized city located in Japan. It has high business and tourism ratings that often exceed 200 or more each. Sometimes although very rare, the ratings can exceed 300. The city will two World Exhibition events for three months, one in 1970 and the other in 1975. Passenger travel during in and out of the city will increase greatly during the three months of the both Exhibitions.

## Airport

The default airport here is Osaka International Airport (ITM).

### Trivia

In real life, Osaka International Airport (also known as Itami Airport) was an important gateway into the city before the 1990s. However, due to political friction and complaints from residents surrounding the airport, a new airport, Kansai International Airport which was built on an artificial island, was built in 1994 and took over all of the international operations from Osaka International Airport. Today, Itami Airport only handles domestic flights in Japan only.

## Strategy

Osaka one of the more popular cities in Japan that players often fly to. This will result in moderate competition that the city may not be able to sustain very well. Hence, beginners should avoid this city as a starting hub. The city's position does tend to affect any players starting here in a very minor way. Although there are many great cities to the west and south west of Osaka (e.g Seoul, Cairo and Singapore). There are virtually no cities to the east. Long ranged planes are necessary to reach the North American cites and may often require the use of the limited available stopover cities in the Pacific Ocean (e.g Honolulu, Kona and Anchorage). Cargo operations also follows the same recommendations as stated above.

Osaka International Airport usually can achieve maximum slot usage, but this often occurs quite late in the game (usually after the year 1990). Hence, the airport can be an option when a player is ready to purchase a national airport. The ideal time to make the deal is during the economic crisis that occurs somewhere between 1990 and 2000 as the price of the airport is the cheapest during this period of uncertainty. Even though the Osaka International Airport can attain maximum slot capacity, a second airport will usually not achieve a status above a level 2. Hence, players should avoid building additional airports here unless the player wishes to privatise the airports.

Suitable planes for use in and out of this city can be of any reasonable capacity and range as long as they have a high satisfaction. For flights to large cities, aircraft like the Boeing 777, Airbus A330 and the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 are great choices. Flights to smaller cities may utilise planes of small to medium capacity such as the Boeing 707, Lockheed L-1011 and the Airbus A300 are an ideal choice. For cargo operations, any aircraft with a suitable range and high satisfaction are sufficient on routes in and out of the city. Very large planes like the Airbus A380, Boeing 747 and Antonov An-225 should be avoided to keep depreciation to a minimum.

A player may also take advantage of the 1970 World Exhibition to rake in more revenue by adding additional planes and/or raising prices on routes to and out of Osaka temporarily during the three months of the Exhibition.