Earlier this year, Niigata-based Toki Air took delivery of its first ATR 42-600. The aircraft, registered JA03QQ, is now being ferried to Japan where it is scheduled to arrive on December 7, 2024.
According to Toki Air’s statement from December 4, 2024, the aircraft left Toulouse on December 2, 2024, making its way toward Naha Airport in Okinawa. Planned stops on the ferry flight include Heraklion in Greece, Cairo in Egypt, Dubai in the UAE, Hyderabad in India, Bangkok Don Mueang in Thailand, and Taipei Songshan in Taiwan.
Once the necessary import-related procedures are completed at Naha Airport, the aircraft will be ferried to its Niigata base. There, it will join Toki Air’s existing fleet of two ATR 72-600s.
Currently, the airline operates three routes, connecting Niigata with Sapporo Okadama, Sendai, and Nagoya Chubu. The former two routes are double daily while the Nagoya route operates twice a day on four days of the week. The Sendai route will be reduced to similar frequency from late January 2025. Kobe and Sado were presented by the airline as its next targets in the past.
While Toki Air was also planning to add the short take-off and landing ATR 42-600S variant to its fleet in the future, with ATR having scrapped the aircraft’s development, the airline will need to rethink its strategy for serving Sado Airport, which currently only has an 890-meter runway.
