Japan Air Commuter orders three DASH 8-Q400 turboprop aircraft

JAL Group regional airline Japan Air Commuter today announced orders for three additional DASH 8-Q400 turboprop aircraft produced by Bombardier Aerospace of Canada.

JAC already operates three DASH 8-Q400s and in 2002 was the first carrier to introduce the high-speed, low noise airplane to service in Japan to replace retiring YS-11s. JAC has three more Q400s on order for delivery within FY2005 when the airline will have six of the type in service. The three new orders announced today are for delivery after 2005 and will bring the total of Q400s in the JAC fleet to nine.

Japan Air Commuter, based in Kagoshima in southern Kyushu, southernmost of Japan's four main islands, was founded in 1983 as a subsidiary of the former Toa Domestic Airways to serve local cities and island communities south of Kyushu. JAC is now a subsidiary of Japan Airlines Domestic.

From its Kagoshima base JAC operates a network of 31 routes averaging 128 flights daily on a one-way basis.