JAPAN ASIA AIRWAYS, LTD.: Yurakucho Denki Building, 7-1 Yurakucho 1 Chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100, Japan; Phone 81 (3) 3284 2972; Fax 81 (3) 3284 2980; Http://wwwjapanasia. co. jp; Code EG; Year Founded 1975. To allow resumption of the lucrative Taiwan route given up when PRC service is started in 1974, Japan Air Lines Company, Ltd. (2) creates this wholly owned subsidiary on August 8, 1975 to get around Beijing’s objection to the flag carrier’s Taiwan service. With three dedicated DC-8-61s and a DC-8-62 transferred from the parent, Chairman Hiroshi Arai’s 400-employee JAAC begins Tokyo-Taipei service on September 15. Traffic figures are reported with those of the parent. Routes are opened from Tokyo and Osaka to Manila and Hong Kong in July 1976.
During-1977-1979, the introduction and maintenance of inclusive tour and cargo charters supplement scheduled operations. With three DC-10-40s supplied by JAL, new frequencies are initiated on the Tokyo to Taipei route during 1980. Manila service is suspended in 1981, but a route is started to Kao-hsiung in 1982. The same year, the company receives its first Jumbojet, a B-747-146 transferred from the parent.
Enplanements total 734,955 in 1983. In 1984, a total of 415,480 passengers are flown to Taipei while 228,600 Taiwanese passengers are flown to Japan. When a B-747-146 and a B-747-221F are transferred to the carrier from its parent in 1985-1986, the DC-8s begin scheduled freight service and are all dedicated to the charter operations, which include a return to the Philippines.
The fleet in 1987 includes 1 B-747-346, 2 B-747-146s, and 3 DC-10-40s. In July, China Airlines, Ltd. purchases block-space on JAA services between Taipei and Tokyo.
The company’s 12th anniversary is celebrated in August, at which time it is reported that 7.3 million passengers (cumulative) have been flown. Through October, the year’s bookings jump 21.8% to 793,205 and cargo rises 33.3% to 77.88 million FTKs. Profits total $37.3 million (operating) and $13.3 million (net).
The workforce is increased by 14.3% in 1988 to 603 as Okinawa-Taipei flights begin. Customer bookings ascend 15% to 1,125,498 and cargo climbs 7% to 100.63 million FTKs. Revenues ascend by 6.8% to $398 million. With expenses up only 3.3%, operating income is able to balloon to $51.6 million. The net profit reaches $25 million.
The payroll is cut 17.4% in 1989 to 498. Still, passenger boardings jump 17.1% to 1,262,914 and freight ascends 10.1% to 110.45 million FTKs.
Company employment inches up 0.4% in 1990 to 500 and the fleet now includes 2 Boeing 747-146s, 1 B-747-346, and 3 DC-10-40s. Traffic is good as customer bookings rise 3.6% to 1,338,622 and cargo climbs 4.2% to 115 million FTKs.
The fleet in 1991 includes 3 B-747-146s, including 1 leased back to JAL; 1 each B-747-246B and B-747-346; and 4 DC-10-40s, 1 of which is also leased to JAL. Recession cuts deeply into business and figures are reported only through June. These show passenger boardings down 7.2% to 633,844. On December 25, four-times-per-week service is inaugurated from Nagoya to Guam via Saipan.
Airline employment at Chairman Mitsunari Kawano’s carrier reaches 1,023 by 1992 and the fleet comprises 2 B-747-246Bs, 2 B-747-146s, 1 B-747-346, and 3 Douglas DC-10-40s, 1 of which remains on lease to JAL. Faced with greater competition on the principal Japan to Taiwan route, the company hires additional non-Japanese flight attendants, based at Taipei, at lower rates.
Through November, customer bookings climb 6.5% to 1,299,904. Cargo inches up 0.6% to 108.63 million FTKs. The year’s net profit is $5.2 million.
In 1993, Chairman Kawano and President Noboru Okamura oversee a workforce unchanged in size and a fleet cut by one B-747-146. Service continues to be provided from Tokyo and Osaka to Taipei, Kao-hsiung, and Hong Kong and from Okinawa and Nagoya to Taipei. To assist with its parent’s cost-cutting efforts, the JAL route from Hong Kong to Bangkok is assumed on a scheduled basis.
For the year as a whole, passenger boardings plunge 8.7% to 1,278,176 and freight is down 1.1% to 117.14 million FTKs.
Despite a recovering Japanese economy, the number of employees is reduced by 12% in 1994 to 900. Customer bookings recover to make up the ground lost the previous year, rising 9.4% to 1,398,481. Cargo ascends 4.3% to 122.15 million FTKs.
There is no change in company employment during 1995. Traffic figures are reported through September and show passenger boardings declining 0.4% to 1,029,813. Conversely, freight jumps 22.2% to 106.86 million FTKs. In late December, as part of the company’s 20th anniversary celebration, the carrier’s B-747-146 is painted in a “dancing children” motif.
Nine new employees join the company in 1996, a 1% increase, and the fleet now includes 4 DC-10-40s, 2 B-747-246Bs, and 1 each B-747-146 and B-747-346.
During Chinese military missile exercises off Taiwan between March 8 and 18, Japan Asia changes the route of its six-times-a-week service between the southern Japanese city of Naha and Taipei. The service is lengthened by 10 minutes and is not considered a major problem.
Enplanements jump 10.1% to 1,124,513 while 100.65 million FTKs are operated, a 6.2% decline.
The workforce is reduced 1% in 1997 to 900. Customer bookings advance by 2.1% to 1,576,172 and cargo moves up 2.9% to 134.4 million FTKs.
In 1998, the company continues to fly from Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya to Hong Kong, Kao-hsiung, Manila, Okinawa, and Taipei. Passenger boardings drop 8.6% to 1.44 million, while traffic is down 3.3% to 129.91 million FTKs.
By the start of 1999, airline employment has been increased by 1% to 909. Passenger boardings jump 4.7% to 1,376,000, while cargo dips 1.8% to 127,588,000 FTKs. The workforce has been reduced to 832 by the beginning of 2000.
On August 7, the company’s only B-747-146 is leased via Japan Air Lines Company, Ltd. (2) to JALways Company, Ltd.
JAPAN CONTINENTAL AIRLINES COMPANY, LTD.: Maku-razaki Airport, Kyushu, Japan; Year Founded 1991. JCAC is established at Makurazaki Airport in 1991 to offer nonscheduled flights to Kagoshima Airport, Yakushima, in the Kagoshima Prefecture. Operations commence with a single Pilatus-Britten-Norman PBN-2B26 Islander leased from Tokyo-based ITC Aerospace, Ltd.
Having received its license, the company, in early 1992, inaugurates scheduled services from Makurazaki Airport in the Kyushu islands to Tanegashima. The lone aircraft is occasionally chartered by the Japanese Customs Service for maritime surveillance work.
It is understood that operations continue during the remainder of the decade. Exact information is unavilable.
JAPAN DOMESTIC AIRLINES COMPANY, LTD.: Japan (19641971). At the instigation of the Ministry of Transport, Japan Domestic is formed on April 15, 1964 to fly medium-haul services on the longer legs between cities in the nation’s four islands. The company is an amalgamation of Fuji Airlines, Ltd., Nitto Air Lines Company, Ltd., and North Japan Airlines Company, Ltd. (Kita Nihon Kabushiki Kaisha). The latter, being the largest and most sophisticated, forms the nucleus around which the others are amalgamated.
The aircraft of the merger partners are assembled into a unified fleet that includes 9 Convair CV-240s, several Douglas DC-3s, many light-planes (e. g., Beech 18s), and a few helicopters. Destinations served include those of the merged carriers, e. g., Tokyo, Osaka, Kochi, Sapporo, Wakkanai, Nagasaki, Kyoto, Nagoya, Sendai, Kagoshima, and Sado Island. Additional new routes link Honshu and Hokkaido.
A Convair CV-880M, a large jetliner leased from Japan Air Lines Company, Ltd. (2), is delivered on January 4, 1965 and is christened Gina. A trunk route is initiated by the CV-880M on March 1 from Tokyo to Sapporo and Fukuoka.
In July, a Nord 262 is leased and employed, beginning on August 1, over a route from Osaka to Tokushima. Later, a purchased aircraft is also acquired and is placed into service between Osaka and Niigata. Six YAMC YS-11As are also acquired during the year.
Orders are outstanding for four additional YS-11As and two Boeing 727-100s. The Convair jetliner begins flying from Tokyo to Sapporo and Fukuoka while the YS-11As launch flights from the capital to Obhiro, Aomoru, Nigata, and Oita. Enplanements for the year are 504,673.
The Boeing trijets, leased Dash-146s, arrive under charter from JAL-2 in February 1966 and enter service on March 15.
The Gina is leased back to JAL on May 1. On May 20, the Ministry of Transport, which had created JDA, wins approval of the cabinet for a merger of its creation into JAL-2. Political circumstances will ensure that the plan is not implemented. Still in GDA colors, the Gina is lost in a training accident at Tokyo (NRT) on August 26.
Growth continues throughout the remainder of the decade and by May 15, 1971, when the company is combined with Toa Airways, Ltd. to form Toa Domestic Airlines Company, Ltd., the fleet comprises 15 YAMC YS-11As and 3 Boeing 727-146s.
JAPAN HELICOPTER AND AEROPLANE TRANSPORT COMPANY, LTD. (NIHON HERIKOPUTA YHUSO KABUSHIKI KAISHA): Japan (1952-1958). Also known as by its initials (JHAT or NHYKK) or as Nippeli, this postwar Japanese pioneer is formed on July 15, 1952 with initial capitalization of ? 150 million (US$450,000). Ma-suichi Midoro is named president, with Katsuyoshi Nakano and Ryuichi Fukumoto as senior vice presidents and Seiji Torii as vice president. Operating authority is sought from the government via applications filed on July 15. As regulatory decision is awaited, 2 Bell 47D-1s are acquired and a 16-man workforce is recruited.
Government permission to undertake rotary-wing aerial work is received in early February 1953, with the first contract flight undertaken on February 20. A license for charter service is granted to the company on May 26. Over the next seven months, as helicopter contracts continue to be operated, the fleet is increased by the addition of two Bell 47D-1s and two de Havilland DH 104 Doves.
On December 15, the first postwar service using Japanese pilots is initiated as the company’s premier DH 104 Dove makes a cargo flight from Tokyo to Osaka.
The carrier’s chief competitor, Far Eastern Airlines, Ltd. (FEA), begins revenue services with a mail flight over the JHAT route on January 20, 1954. JHAT’s first passenger service is flown from Tokyo to Osaka on February 1. The decision is now taken that the two companies should complement one another and not compete; thus alternate route networks will be developed. On March 1, FEA launches its own passenger services over a route from Osaka to Iwakuni. Employing three DH 114 Heron 1Bs, JHAT commences regularly scheduled revenue flights from Tokyo to Nagoya and Osaka on March 1. Tokyo to Misawa and Sapporo flights commence on August 10.
The first leased Douglas DC-3s are received in the summer of 1955 and the first 6 cabin attendants are hired in September—from a pool of 1,000 applicants. One of these, Yoko Kitano, gains the honor of becoming the company’s first serving stewardess when she hosts passengers on the inaugural DC-3 service, Tokyo-Osaka-Nagoya, on November 15. Meanwhile, on October 1, flights have been launched to Kanazawa and Oshima.
Frequencies are initiated from Osaka to Kitakyushu on May 15, 1956 and from Osaka to Kamazawa on July 2. Merger discussions with officials from FEA now begin. On April 13, 1957, the two companies begin to coordinate their activities on a formal basis. JHAT starts flying from Tokyo to Sendai on April 22 and begins its last new route on October 10 from Tokyo to Kitakyushu, direct.
Services are maintained until March 1, 1958 when the carrier is merged with FEA to create All-Nippon Airways, Ltd. (ANA).
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