Air Central

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Air Central エアーセントラル
IATA NV	ICAO CRF	Callsign Alice Air
Founded		May 12, 1988
Hubs		Chubu Centrair International Airport
Fleet size
Destinations		10
Parent company		All Nippon Airways (86.7%) Nagoya Railroad (13.3%)
Headquarters		Tokoname, Aichi, Japan
Key people
Website: http://www.air-central.co.jp

Air Central Co., Ltd. (エアーセントラル株式会社, Eā Sentoraru Kabushiki-gaisha^?) is a regional airline based in Nagoya, Japan. It operates regional passenger services, including some All Nippon Airways (ANA) flights as a member of the ANA Group. Its main base is Chubu Centrair International Airport.

1 History
2 Services
3 Fleet
4 External links
5 References

[edit] History

In 1953, Nakanihon Air Service was founded near Nagoya Airport. Its major shareholders included Nagoya Railroad and ANA. Its core business was general aviation, including scenic and charter flights, aerial photography and helicopter services. It still operates as a general aviation company.

A new affiliate company, Nakanihon Airlines (NAL), was founded on May 12, 1988 to handle scheduled commuter services. It was headquartered in Nagoya Airport and was a joint venture between Nagoya Railroad (55%) and ANA (45%). Commuter services began operations on 23 April 1991. On November 1, 2004, ANA became the majority (55%) shareholder of NAL. As of September 2006, ANA bears 86.7% of the shares of Air Central; and Nagoya Railroad bears 13.3% of its shares.

On February 17, 2005, NAL was renamed to the current name and was relocated to Chubu Centrair International Airport. Flight schedules were amended for convenience of domestic and international flight changeover there. These moves were made for ANA's wish to feed international flights from Centrair operated by ANA and its Star Alliance partners.

[edit] Services

From Chubu Centrair International Airport (IATA Airport Code NGO) near Nagoya, currently (as of September 2006) it serves the following destinations on Japan's Honshū and Shikoku Islands. No cargo services available.

Tottori Airport (TTJ), Tottori, Tottori
Yonago Airport (Miho Airbase YGJ), Sakaiminato, Tottori near Yonago
Tokushima Airport (TKS), Matsushige, Tokushima near Tokushima city
Matsuyama Airport (MYJ), Matsuyama, Ehime
Narita International Airport (NRT), Chiba Prefecture, 70 kilometres from Tokyo
Fukushima Airport (FKS), Tamakawa, Fukushima near Koriyama
Niigata Airport (KIJ), Niigata, Niigata

It also operates the Sendai Airport (SDJ), near Sendai, Miyagi to Narita International Airport (NRT) route.

[edit] Fleet

As of August 2006 the Air Central fleet includes ^[1] :

4 Fokker 50 (phased out, red livery probably after Nagoya Railroad but has been repainted in blue livery of ANA)
2 Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 (progressively leased and carrying blue livery of ANA)