Toki Air held a business strategy presentation in Tokyo, Japan, and announced that entrepreneur Takafumi Horie has been appointed to its board of directors.
Entertainment company LAND acquired 32.34% of Toki Air’s shares. As co-representative, LAND’s Naoki Wada has assumed the role of Representative Director, President and CEO of Toki Air. Through HIU Investment, Mr. Horie acquired 24.7% of LAND’s shares.
Toki Air will launch a charter flight business mainly on weekdays, when there are fewer scheduled flights. It will roll out a corporate charter app, SORA PASS, enabling point-to-point connections between regional cities with bases in Niigata, Nagoya, Kobe, and Sapporo/Okadama. In a limited campaign for 100 companies, sectors that normally cost 1.5 to 2.5 million yen per segment can be chartered for 1 million yen (before tax), and advance applications have opened. Horie indicated he would like to use the service for a “hopping tour” organized through his online salon in February, traveling from Kobe to the Oki and Iki islands. Each company can book up to four segments, and an aircraft wrapping (livery) option will be available.
Furthermore, through the TOKIKAND super app, the company will offer an integrated service that brings together lifestyle infrastructure such as transport, hospital and restaurant reservations, payments, and mileage/points linkage.
The company also expressed plans to begin manufacturing domestically produced light sport aircraft (LSA) based in the Tsubame–Sanjo area of Niigata Prefecture, with an eye toward expansion into the U.S. market.
According to CEO Wada, the variable costs of Toki Air’s ATR aircraft are about one-eighth those of a Boeing 767 and about one-quarter those of a Boeing 737, making it sufficiently feasible to turn a profit even on unprofitable routes from which major Japanese airlines have withdrawn. The load factor, which was in the 20% range in January, had risen to the 70% range by September. The carrier aims to achieve profitability in 2027.
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