A variety of local media reported that J.CAS, a new Japanese regional airline in the making, held a press conference to announce its upcoming plans.
The airline, to be based in Toyama on the Sea of Japan-side of the country, plans to start operations in the fall of 2021 with a pair of turboprop aircraft.
J.CAS Plans to Start with Flights Out of Kansai
J.CAS Co., Ltd. was established in 2018 by Seiji Shirane. Before starting his own consultancy in 2001, Shirane worked for Japan Airlines, Boeing, and Skymark Airlines.
Back when launching the company in 2018, Shirane stated the following on the website of the company:
We recognize a basic structure of domestic air route between Kansai airport/Chubu airport and local airport is insufficient. We have established new regional airline in October 2018 and our mission is to provide high speed transportation with people of local communities.
Yesterday, the company announced that it plans to start operations in the fall of 2021, serving the following destinations out of Osaka Kansai: Toyama (4 daily flights), Noto, Yonago, and Iwakuni. Later on, it is considering adding routes from Nagoya Centrair to Toyama, Sendai, and Niigata.
None of the four destinations the airline plans to serve out of Kansai have currently air connection with Osaka. However, ANA already serves Niigata and Sendai out of Nagoya. The latter route is also served by AirAsia Japan.
When explaining the reason behind choosing Osaka – Toyama as its main route, Shirane is quoted by Aviation Wire as saying:
JR’s [Japan Railways’] Thunderbird express train’s operations are often disrupted by accidents. While Haneda is connected with 14 Asian cities, Kansai is with 64. It’s also convenient for visiting Namba [in Osaka]. Going [between the two cities] by train, many transfers are required and its difficult for foreign visitors with a lot of luggage.
While I am not sure about the accuracy of the two numbers in the above statement, it’s certainly true that there are more connections to Asian cities from Kansai airport than from Haneda airport – especially when it comes to destinations in China.
J.CAS plans to start operations with a pair of leased turboprop aircraft. However, the airline is not decided yet whether it will opt for De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 or ATR 72.
It plans to add two additional aircraft to its fleet in its second year of operations, and additional three aircraft over the three following years.
Summary
To be perfectly honest, I haven’t heard about J.CAS until today. Reading about its plans, though, I can certainly see why attempting to start an airline like this might work.
Traveling by train between the destinations the airline plans to serve is certainly cumbersome. It also certainly has the potential to allow for one-stop itineraries from a variety of international destinations to Toyama whatever the demand for that might be.
However, for domestic travelers, it adds the hassles of having to get to Kansai airport, having to clear security, and having to deal with limited airline schedules. As such, I wonder how many people would actually opt to take the aircraft over the train.
Add to that the various challenges of running an airline, and I am fairly skeptical about whether the airline will actually end up launching or not. I certainly hope it does, though.
