By Jean-Michel Guhl
A true event in the Far-East, Amakusa Airlines has become the very first company in Japan to operate an ATR turboprop. This aircraft will take-over the task and routes flown for the past 15 years by a single Dash-8 and continue to herald the regional airline’s famous blue dolphin livery. This brand-new ATR-42-600 purchased from Nordic Aviation Capital in Denmark will help to increase the number of seats available to this small commercial company. ©ATR
Toulouse-Blagnac, 13 August 2015 — The small Japanese regional carrier Amakusa Airlines took delivery in Toulouse of a 48-seat ATR 42-600, the first of the type to start operations in Japan. For almost 15 years, this airline has been providing regular scheduled regional services connecting the city of Amakusa off the coast of mainland Kyushu in southwestern Japan to large cities such as Kumamoto, Fukuoka, and Osaka.
This brand-new ATR 42-600 has been purchased from Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC), the industry’s largest turboprop lessor, headquartered in Denmark. It is equipped with the latest technologies in passenger comfort and navigation aid tools and features ATR’s newest Armonia cabin and full-glass cockpit avionics. With the introduction of this very first ATR aircraft in Japan, Amakusa will replace their current lonely 39-seat Bombardier Dash-8 turboprop, thus offering larger capacity and contributing to the development of tourism and to even better service for the local population.
Commenting on the introduction of the aircraft, Takashi Yoshimura President of Amakusa Airlines, declared: “We are honored to debut the ATR in Japan, and to provide our passengers with an aircraft that has an outstanding reputation in terms of comfort, reliability and operational flexibility. The aircraft, which has an increased seat capacity, will also enable us to achieve optimized economics and seat costs, while having a very low environmental footprint.”
Arata Yasujima, President of Japan Air Commuter, seen at Le Bourget giving an autograph to an ATR model in JAC livery. A beaming Patrick de Castelbajac, Chief Executive Officer of ATR, looks over. This large Japanese contract is a true landmark in ATR’s history as it is due to open the doors of the Nipponese market to the very cost-efficient Franco-Italian biturboprop. ©JM.Guhl/Latinaero
Martin Møller, Chairman of Nordic Aviation Capital, stated: “We have a high level of confidence in the potential of the smaller ATR -600 Series as airlines around the world look to replace aging equivalent-sized aircraft, and when they look for a successor as they look to upgrade from smaller capacity aircraft. This is why we have consistently added to our ATR orderbook and we are delighted to offer various financing solutions to our customers, plenty of whom have already shown their interest in the 50-seat variant of the ATR.”
Patrick de Castelbajac, Chief Executive Officer of ATR, declared: “The arrival of this first aircraft underlines the suitability of the ATR -600 series for regional operations across Japan. We are delighted to enter such a major market, one of the few Asian countries where ATR had not flown before. Japan, which has a fleet of almost 100 regional aircraft, including some 50 aging turboprops, provides us outstanding commercial opportunities. This, coupled with our aim of being as close as possible to our new operators there, explains the recent opening of an ATR representative office in Tokyo.”
Let’s recall that during the last Paris Air Show in June of this year. Japan Air Commuter Co., Ltd (JAC) — a JAL Group Company — and ATR announced the signature of a contract for the purchase of eight ATR 42-600s, plus one option and purchase rights for an extra fourteen, valued at US$ 496 million. The signature of this deal was a major milestone for ATR, as it represented the 1500th ATR aircraft sold since the beginning of the program. It was also the first contract signed between ATR and a Japanese airline.
Until the arrival in Japan of the very first ATR, Amakusa Airlines operated a single aircraft, this Bombardier DHC-8-103Q (MSN537) registered JA81AM. Due to be retired soon after 15 years of service, this aircraft nicknamed Mizoka sports a blue dolphin livery which has become the trademark of the small airline serving the city of the same name, located on an island off the west coast of the larger island of Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost main island. ©K. Nagashima
The operations with these new 50-seat ATR 42-600s will start in 2017 with the remaining aircraft to be delivered over the next three years. With its brand new fleet, Japan Air Commuter will replace its current regional aircraft on its main routes as well as on operations to smaller islands of the country. The state-of-the-art ATR42-600 turboprop is equipped with a glass cockpit incorporating the newest navigation technologies, -also available on the A380-. The aircraft are also equipped with the new ‘Armonia’ cabin, featuring the latest standards of comfort, including large overhead bins, LED lightening and more legroom for passengers.
