Japan Transocean Air (JTA) is an

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

based in

Naha is the Cities of Japan, capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture of Japan. As of 1 June 2019, the city has an estimated population of 317,405 and a population density of 7,939 people per km2 (20,562 persons per sq. mi.). ...

Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan. It consists of three main island groups—the Okinawa Islands, the Sakishima Islands, and the Daitō Islands—spread across a maritime zone approximately 1,000 kilometers east to west an ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It operates domestic services on behalf of

Japan Airlines Japan Airlines (JAL) is the flag carrier airline of Japan. JAL is headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport, Narita and Haneda Airport, Haneda airports, as well as secondary hubs in Osaka's Kansai ...

. Its main base is

Naha Airport is an international airport located west of the city hallAIS Japan
in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It is Japan's ...

. From 1967 until 1993, the airline was known as ''Southwest Air Lines''.

History

JapanTransoceanAir B737-400 fukuoka 20040911152150

The airline was established on 20 June 1967 as , and started operations in July 1967. It changed its name in July 1993. It had 814 employees (in March 2023) and is owned by

(51.1%), Naha Airport Terminal (17%), Okinawa Prefecture (12.9%) and others (19.1%) It flew

Convair 240 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inroa ...

s until new capital from JAL allowed it to upgrade to

NAMC YS-11 The NAMC YS-11 is a turboprop airliner designed and built by the Nihon Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation (NAMC), a Japanese consortium. It was the only post-war airliner to be wholly designed and manufactured in Japan until the development of t ...

s, and eventually

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...

s. JTA occasionally lends aircraft to JAL in the event of equipment failure. JTA also provides maintenance services for JAL Group

Boeing 737-400 The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft. Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Febru ...

aircraft. JTA owns 74.5% of

Ryukyu Air Commuter Ryukyu Air Commuter (RAC) is a Japanese regional airline headquartered in Naha, Okinawa, Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It operates domestic passenger services from the island of Okinawa Island, Okinawa to other islands of Okinawa Prefecture an ...

. At one time the head office of Southwest Air Lines was at ''306-1 Kagamizu'' in

Destinations

JTA serves the following destinations:

Codeshare and Interline agreements

JTA currently has a

Codeshare agreement A codeshare agreement, also known simply as codeshare, is a business arrangement, common in the aviation industry, in which two or more airlines publish and market the same flight under their own airline designator and flight number (the "airli ...

with

. It also has Interline agreements with the following airlines: *

Hawaiian Airlines Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. ( ) is a commercial U.S. airline headquartered in Honolulu, and a subsidiary of the Alaska Air Group. It is the largest operator of commercial flights to and from the island state of Hawaiʻi, and the tenth largest ...

Emirates Emirates may refer to: * United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective ...

Fleet

Current fleet

, Japan Transocean Air operates the following aircraft:

Former fleet

Japan Transocean Air has previously operated the following aircraft: *

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retained the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating ...

Boeing 767-200 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified ...

Accidents and incidents

Since the airline's foundation, there has only been one accident which was under the former Southwest Air Lines brand. * On 26 August 1982, Southwest Air Lines Flight 611, a Boeing 737-2Q3, registration JA8444, overran the runway at Ishigaki Airport and was destroyed. None of the 138 passengers and crew were killed but some were injured during the emergency evacuation.

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Regional airlines of Japan Japan Airlines Oneworld affiliate members Airlines established in 1967 Aviation in Okinawa Prefecture 1967 establishments in Okinawa Japanese companies established in 1967