Hokkaido Air System

Hokkaido Air System
IATA ICAO Callsign
6L,JD NTH,JAS NORTH AIR,AIR SYSTEM
Founded September 30, 1997
Hubs Okadama Airport
Fleet size 3
Destinations 6
Parent company Japan Air System (Former) Japan airlines (current)
Headquarters Okadama Airport
Sapporo, Hokkaido
Key people Yoichiro Kuwano, President
Employees 93 (30 June, 2015)[1]
Website hac-air.co.jp

Hokkaido Air System Co., Ltd. (株式会社北海道エアシステム Kabushiki-gaisha Hokkaidō Ea Shisutemu), or HAC, is an airline with its headquarters on the property of Okadama Airport in Okadama-chō, Higashi-ku, Sapporo.[2] It operates scheduled domestic services in Hokkaidō.[3] Its main base of operations is Okadama Airport.[2]

Hokkaido Air System is a private company with sixty shareholders, the largest of which are the Hokkaido government (36.5%), Japan Airlines (14.5%) and the city of Sapporo (13.5%). Other shareholders include the city of Hakodate, the city of Kushiro, Hokkaido Electric Power Company, Hokkaido Bank and North Pacific Bank. The company had 93 employees at 30 June 2015.[4]

History

Hokkaido Air System Saab 340B-WT JAS-era HAC livery

The airline was established in 1997 and started operations in 1998. Founded as a joint venture, it was an affiliate of Japan Air System until that airline consolidated into Japan Airlines.[5] Its headquarters were at one time located in the Terminal Building of New Chitose Airport in Chitose, Hokkaidō, Japan.[6]

HAC's initial routes in 1998 were Chitose-Hakodate, Hakodate-Asahikawa, Hakodate-Kushiro and Asahikawa-Kushiro, followed by Chitose-Kushiro and Hakodate-Memanbetsu in 1999 and Hakodate-Sendai in 2001. It began Okadama service in 2003 with service to Hakodate and Kushiro, for a total of nine routes. HAC also served Monbetsu from Chitose and Okadama in 2005-06.[7] Air Hokkaido ceased operations on 31 March 2006 and its sole route, Hakodate-Okushiri, was taken over the next day by Hokkaido Air System.[8]

HAC left the Japan Airlines group at the end of fiscal year 2010 (March 2011) as part of the corporate restructuring of JAL. JAL retained a 14% stake in the airline, making it the second-largest shareholder after the Hokkaido prefectural government.[9] Japan Airlines ceased ticket handling and reservation services for HAC flights effective September 1, 2011.[10] The Hokkaido prefectural government and various local governments continued to subsidize HAC services to various smaller cities in the prefecture.[11]

HAC recorded losses of 296 million yen and had negative equity of 116 million yen in the fiscal year ending March 2013, and took several measures to improve its performance, including resuming codesharing with JAL and starting service from Sapporo to Misawa in July 2013.[11] It was revealed in August 2013 that Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers in the Hokkaido government had been pushing JAL to once again take over HAC.[9] As of December, JAL and the Hokkaido government were reportedly in negotiations to make HAC a subsidiary of JAL, as part of which JAL and Hokkaido government would each pay off half of HAC's excess debt, with the Hokkaido government possibly doing so by cancelling part of its 360 million yen loan claim against the airline.[12]

Destinations

Two Hokkaido Air System Saab 340B-WT aircraft at Okadama Airport, in current livery (foreground) and former JAL group livery (background)
The terminal building of Okadama Airport, the location of the former HAC headquarters

Hokkaido Air System operates services to the following destinations:[13]

Fleet

The Hokkaido Air System fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of August 2016):[14]

Hokkaido Air System Fleet
Aircraft In Fleet Orders Notes
Saab 340B 3 2 2 will be delivered from 2017 and transferred from Japan Air Commuter.

References

  1. https://www.info.hac-air.co.jp/company/aboutus.html
  2. 1 2 "会社概要." Hokkaido Air System. Retrieved on December 3, 2013. "〒007-0880 札幌市東区丘珠町 丘珠空港内"
  3. "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-04-03. p. 91.
  4. https://www.info.hac-air.co.jp/company/aboutus.html
  5. "2002/11/15 Interim Financial Information." Japan Airlines.
  6. "会社概要." Hokkaido Air System. Retrieved on May 19, 2009. "本社事務所 : 千歳市美々新千歳空港ターミナルビル内"
  7. "北海度エアシステム経営改革案報告書" (PDF). HAC経営検討委員会. June 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
  8. "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 2007-03-27. p. 57.
  9. 1 2 "北海道「HACの負担重く」再子会社化を要請へ". 日本経済新聞. 21 August 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2013. 日航は2010年度末までHACの51%の株式を持つ親会社だった。10年1月の会社更生法適用申請を前に、09年9月にHACからの経営撤退を表明。11年中に大半を手放したが、現在も道庁(約36%)に次ぐ約14%の株を持つ。
  10. "Termination of JAL reservation and ticket handling for flights operated by HAC (Hokkaido Air System)." Japan Airlines. Retrieved on July 21, 2011.
  11. 1 2 "日航にHACの再子会社化要請へ 北海道庁が検討". 日本経済新聞. 21 August 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2013. HACは13年3月期に2億9600万円の最終赤字を計上し、1億1600万円の債務超過に陥った。再建策の一環として、7月から日航と共同運航(コードシェア)を始めたほか、丘珠―三沢(青森)線を就航している。
  12. "HAC債務超過、北海道庁も負担へ 数千万円の債権放棄検討". 日本経済新聞. 3 December 2013. Retrieved 3 December 2013. 日本航空による北海道エアシステム(HAC)の再子会社化で、道庁と日航がHACの債務超過額をそれぞれ負担し、今年度内にも解消する方向で調整していることが2日、分かった。道庁は債務超過の解消に向け、約3億6千万円あるHACへの貸付金のうち数千万円を債権放棄することなどを検討している。
  13. "Route Map." Hokkaido Air System.
  14. "Global Airline Guide 2016 (Part One)". Airliner World (October 2016): 18.
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