Tag Archives: 5H-FJA

Amakusa Airlines introduces the first ATR 42-600 to Japan

Amakusa Airlines-AMX (Amakusa, Kunamoto Prefecture, Japan) has taken delivery in Toulouse of a 48-seat ATR 42-600 (JA01AM, msn 1202), the first of the type to start operations in Japan.

For almost 15 years, the 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 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 (below) and full-glass cockpit avionics.

With the introduction of this very first ATR aircraft in Japan, Amakusa will replace their current 39-seat turboprop (below), 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.”

Above Photo: AMX. The top of JA01AM.

Amakusa Airlines was established in late 1998 and started operations on March 23, 2000, with services from Amakusa to Fukuoka and Kumamoto. Amakusa Airlines is the smallest airline in Japan, with one single aircraft, and is mainly owned by the Kumamoto prefectural government and the municipal government of Amakusa. Since the beginning of its operations, Amakusa Airlines has carried over 1 million passengers.

The new ATR 42-600 replaces an older Bombardier DHC-8-103 (below) (Kampala21).

All Other Photos: AMX.

Airbus and Intrepid to reject the ANA/Skymark Airlines deal

Skymark Airlines‘ (Tokyo) two biggest creditors, Intrepid Aviation and Airbus, have informed the bankruptcy court that they will reject a rescue plan involving ANA-All Nippon Airways (Tokyo) according to ZipanguFlyer.

Read the full story: CLICK HERE

Copyright Photo below: Akira Uekawa/AirlinersGallery.com. Skylark was an Airbus A330-300 operator and was planning to add the larger A380. The pictured A330-343 JA330B (msn 1491) climbs away from Haneda Airport.

Skymark aircraft slide show:

Five Forty Aviation and Lonho Aviation-Fastjet part ways

Five Forty Aviation Limited (Fly540) (Nairobi) has announced it has withdrawn the licences it had granted to Lonhro Aviation (BVI) Ltd operations in Angola, Ghana and Tanzania (“Fastjet’s Africa Operations”) to use the Fly540 brand with immediate effect. This is due to the failure on the part of FastJet’s Africa Operations to comply with the respective licence agreements signed with the Company.

According to Five Forty Aviation:

In June 2012, Fastjet (formerly known as Rubicon Diversified Investments plc) acquired Lonrho Aviation (BVI) Ltd (“Lonrho Aviation”) thereby gaining control of the assets and liabilities of Lonrho Aviation’s three subsidiaries: Fly 540 Angola – Sociedade de Aviação Civil SARL (“Fly540 Angola”), 540 Ghana Limited (“Fly540 Ghana”) and Fly540 (T) Limited (“Fly540 Tanzania”). FastJet’s Africa Operations have been licensing the Fly540 brand from Five Forty Aviation since 2008. FastJet flies three Fly540-branded planes in Angola and two in Ghana. It flew two planes using the Fly540 brand in Tanzania until November 2012.

On January 24, 2013, lawyers representing Five Forty Aviation Limited wrote to Fly540 Angola, Fly540 Ghana and Fly540 Tanzania respectively to inform them that if they did not demonstrate compliance with the terms and conditions of the licence agreement within seven days, the Company’s lawyers would withdraw their ability to use the Fly540 brand.

Specifically, the conditions that are not being adhered to are as follows:

1. Payment of outstanding licence and other fees of $6.9 million, $500,000 and $300,000 (all USD) for Fly540 Tanzania, Fly540 Angola and Fly540 Ghana respectively as well as failure to disclose financial information for December 2012

2. Contrary to the licence agreement and despite several reminders, FastJet’s Africa Operations have not provided information to the Company’s Head of Safety to demonstrate compliance with Five Forty Aviation’s accepted safety systems

3. Failure to provide the Company’s Quality Manager with reports demonstrating that the quality systems are in operation

As Fastjet’s Africa Operations have failed to respond, notice has been given to Fly540 Angola and Fly540 Ghana to re-paint their aircraft in a neutral color. Additionally, Fastjet’s Africa Operations have to re-brand all of the sales offices, removing the Fly540 brand; return all materials containing the Fly540 logo; and rename the companies other than 540. Also, as per the licence agreement, the Company has written to the Civil Aviation Authority in all three countries informing them of the withdrawal of the licences.

Don Smith, CEO of Five Forty Aviation, said: “We had no choice but to take this action because the most worrying aspect of non-compliance with the licensing agreement is that we have no way of assuring that the planes are safe to fly. We have not received any safety reports for the past three months from Fastjet’s Africa Operations and we believe that one plane, which flew with defects from Tanzania and landed in Nairobi on December 14, should not have flown.”

Five Forty Aviation Limited, operating as 540 and Fly540 is a Kenyan company which was established in 2005 and commenced operations on November 24, 2006.

According to Wikipedia, Fly540 was sold for $85.7 million in June 2012 to British investment firm Rubicon Diversified Investments (now Fastjet Plc), who purchased the airline from the Lonrho Group. Rubican acquired Fly540 as its platform for the launch of Fastjet in Tanzania. It is now unclear how this separation will affect the operation of upstart Fastjet (Dar es Salaam).

Fly540 Route Map:

Fly540 Video:

Copyright Photo Below: Fastjet. Fastjet acquired its first Airbus A319 when the pictured ex-easyJet A319-111 was acquired as 5H-FJA (msn 2176, ex G-EZEF) on November 20, 2012.