Toki Air has announced that it operated a charter flight to Sado Airport on May 28.
The runway at Sado Airport is 890 meters long, which is said to be the shortest runway used for commercial operations by an ATR 42-600 aircraft. The charter flight operated from Kobe, and was used only by travel agency representatives and other related parties.
Toki Air had been considering the introduction of the ATR 42-600S, a short takeoff and landing (STOL) variant of the ATR 42-600. This aircraft can take off and land on short runways with a length of 800 meters, and there had been expectations that it would enable service to Sado. However, in November 2024, ATR announced that it would cancel development of the ATR 42-600S due to market research results and supply chain issues, as reported in Japan, and that development would be terminated.
Masaki Hasegawa, Representative Director of Toki Air, commented, “I am very pleased that we were able to realize operations to Sado Airport,” and stated, “Operations in the highly constrained runway environment of 890 meters were made possible through the support of Niigata Prefecture, Sado City, relevant authorities, local residents, and many other stakeholders, as well as the continuous preparations within our company to ensure safe operations.”
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