To save debt-ridden Kansai International Airport Co., the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry has drawn up a bailout plan to provide the semipublic airport operator with about 9 billion yen in subsidies a year and offer government guarantees on short-term bonds to be issued by the company.
Kansai International Airport Co. has been struggling financially since the offshore airport began operations in 1994, piling up 1.2 trillion yen in interest-bearing liabilities.
According to the transport ministry's bailout plan, the state would subsidize Kansai International Airport's interest payments -- of about 9 billion yen a year -- beginning in fiscal 2003 and for the next 30 years.