Air Do

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Air Do
エア・ドゥ
Ea Du
Air Do.svg
IATA ICAO Callsign
HD ADO AIR DO
Founded11 November 1996 (1996-11-11)[1]
Commenced operations20 December 1998 (1998-12-20)[1]
Operating bases
Frequent-flyer programMy AIRDO
Fleet size12
Destinations10
HeadquartersSapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
Key peopleSusumu Kusano (President)
RevenueDecrease ¥49 billion (FY 2014)[1]
Employees1,025 (1 April 2020)[2]
Websiteairdo.jp

AIRDO Co., Ltd. (株式会社エアドゥ, Kabushiki-gaisha Ea Du), previously known as Hokkaido International Airlines (北海道国際航空株式会社, Hokkaidō Kokusai Kōkū Kabushiki-gaisha), is a Japanese regional airline headquartered in Sapporo, Japan. It operates scheduled service between the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido in cooperation with All Nippon Airways, from its hubs at New Chitose Airport in Sapporo and Haneda Airport in Tokyo.

History[]

The Oak Sapporo Building in Sapporo, the site of the airline's headquarters

The airline was founded as Hokkaido International Airlines in 1996 by Teruo Hamada (浜田輝男, Hamada Teruo), an entrepreneur in Hokkaido, shortly after the Japanese government approved a domestic airline deregulation policy that would allow carriers to freely set fares on domestic routes.[1] Hamada gathered investments from 29 other individuals who were interested in establishing a low-cost airline to compete with Japan's major domestic carriers (All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines, and Japan Air System) on flights between Hokkaido cities and Tokyo. Additional capital was raised from Kyocera, Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance, Hokkaido Electric Power Company and other institutional investors, as well as from Hokkaido local governments seeking less expensive air service to Tokyo.

The company started flight operations on the Tokyo-Sapporo route, using the Air Do brand, in December 1998. Its first CEO was the former Japan-based manager of Virgin Atlantic. Maintenance and ground handling services were outsourced to Japan Airlines. Air Do enjoyed very high load factors during its first few months of operation, as its fares were 60% to 70% of the walk-up fares offered by established airlines.

However, other airlines quickly adopted their own discounted advance purchase fares in the wake of Air Do's initial success, driving load factors down to around 50%. In 2000, The Hokkaido prefectural government injected more capital and installed one of its senior officials as head of the company. After being significantly impacted financially in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, and being denied additional financing from the Hokkaido prefectural government, Air Do entered Japanese corporate restructuring procedures in June 2002.

Air Do received new equity capital from a tokumei kumiai investment fund arranged by the Development Bank of Japan (DBJ), in which All Nippon Airways was a key investor. This began a number of business relationships between Air Do and ANA, including ANA code sharing on Air Do operated flights and Air Do leasing additional 767 and 737 aircraft from ANA.[3] The fund was dissolved in September 2008 and DBJ, ANA and other investors became direct shareholders in Air Do.

On 1 October 2012, the company's legal name was changed from Hokkaido International Airlines Co., Ltd. to AIRDO Co., Ltd.[4]

Air Do was sanctioned by the Japanese government in December 2014 for promoting a first officer to captain despite poor performance in training. Following the business improvement order, Air Do in January 2015 moved to eliminate its lowest-yielding routes to Niigata, Toyama, Fukushima and Komatsu.[5]

In July 2021, Air Do shareholders approved a proposal to issue US$63.2 million of preferred shares to improve finances prior to the business integration with Solaseed Air.[6]

Corporate affairs[]

The airline's headquarters are located in the Oak Sapporo Building (オーク札幌ビル, Ōku Sapporo Biru) in Chūō-ku, Sapporo.[2]

The company's president is Susumu Kusano, who was appointed to the position on 27 June 2019.[7]

Destinations[]

Over its history, Air Do has operated scheduled services to the following destinations in Japan as of May 2021:[8][9]

Region City Airport Notes Ref
Hokkaido Asahikawa Asahikawa Airport
Hakodate Hakodate Airport
Komatsu Komatsu Airport Terminated [5]
Kushiro Kushiro Airport
Niigata Niigata Airport Terminated [5]
Sapporo New Chitose Airport Hub
Obihiro Tokachi–Obihiro Airport
Ōzora Memanbetsu Airport
Honshu Fukushima Fukushima Airport Terminated [5]
Hiroshima Hiroshima Airport Terminated [1]
Kobe Kobe Airport
Nagoya Chubu Centrair International Airport
Okayama Okayama Airport Terminated [1]
Sendai Sendai Airport
Tokyo Haneda Airport Hub
Toyama Toyama Airport Terminated [5]

Fleet[]

Current fleet[]

Air Do Boeing 767-300ER

The Air Do fleet consists of the following aircraft as of August 2021:[10]

Air Do Fleet
Aircraft In Fleet Orders Passengers Notes
Boeing 737-700 8 — 144
Boeing 767-300 2 — 288 To be retired by December 2021.[11]
Boeing 767-300ER 2 2 286
Total 12 2

Former fleet[]

Former Air Do Boeing 737-500, in previous Hokkaido International Airlines livery

The airline previously operated the following aircraft:[12]

Air Do Retired Fleet
Aircraft Total Introduced Retired Notes
Boeing 737-400 2 2005 2009
Boeing 737-500 7 2008 2016
Boeing 767-200 1 2003 2005
Boeing 767-300 2 2005 2016

Frequent-flyer program[]

Air Do operates a frequent-flyer program called My AIRDO. Points under the program are accrued based on the fare amount when purchasing tickets for travel with the airline, with registration to join the program available for Japanese residents.[13][14]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f "History". Air Do. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "Company Information". Air Do. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  3. ^ "Air Do, product of Japan's quixotic airline market, likely to remain independent pending reform". CAPA - Centre for Aviation. Informa Markets. 17 September 2013. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  4. ^ Yoshikawa, Tadayuki. "エア・ドウ、社名もAIRDOに統一" [Air Do: company name changed to AIRDO]. Aviation Wire (in Japanese). Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "エア・ドゥ、４路線から撤退検討" [Air Do considers withdrawal from four routes] (in Japanese). Nihon Keizai Shimbun. 16 January 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  6. ^ 日本放送協会. "エア・ドゥ株主総会 財務改善に70億円の優先株発行を承認". NHKニュース. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  7. ^ "Air do appoints new president and CEO". CAPA - Centre for Aviation. Informa Markets. 30 June 2019.
  8. ^ "Timetable". Air Do. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  9. ^ "Destinations". Air Do. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  10. ^ "Air Do Fleet Details and History". Planespotters.net. 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  11. ^ "About the second half of 2021 flight plan". airdo.jp. 24 August 2021. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  12. ^ "Global Airline Guide 2016 (Part One)". Airliner World (October 2016): 18.
  13. ^ "My AIRDO". Air Do. Archived from the original on 13 October 2015. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  14. ^ "About My AIRDO". Air Do. Retrieved 23 August 2020.

External links[]

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