Koko - Civil Aviation (AU) - Page 16

How about it. You spend weeks thinking about a paintscheme for one of your planned AU airlines and you eventually came up with a whole new airline altogether

Retto Charters:

After Koutei Koku privatization in 1970 The Kokoan Governemt still maintained some grip on the aviation industry, first by establishing a regional aircraft manufacturing company (Kokunai, or KHS) which opened in 1973, then by starting up another airline.
To purposedly avoid competing with the Country's flag carrier the new state-owned airline was formed to focus exclusively on charter services, mainly operating leisure flights to Asia-Pacific resort destinations. Retto Charters (Archipelago Charters) started operations in June 1974 Using two second-hand DC-8-50s recieved from koutei Koku, soon followed by some DC-8-63 bought from Eastern Airlines. Despite maintaining its name for its entire existence, Retto actually obtained the license to operate scheduled services as well in 1979, starting to fly regularily between Toumachi and Honolulu with a Boeing 747-100B. During the 80's the airline phased out the DC-8s replacing them with more 747s and 757s, At it's peak, in 2001, the airline operated scheduled and non-scheduled service with a fleet of 19 aircrafts and served 9 domestic and 18 international destinations. Further planned expansion of services was shelved as traffic declined in the early 2000s and actual service reductions followed the 2007/08 recession when nine destinations (4 domestic and 5 international) were removed from the carrier's roster. Ultimately The government involvement ended in 2010 when it was decided to shut down the airline. Most Retto Charters assets were sold to koutei Koku, which inherted most routes and personnel. The aircrafts were instead all withdrawn and stored, sold or scrapped. Retto Charters operated its last flight in late September 2012.

Operated Aircrafts:
DC-8-50 (1974-1980)
DC-8-63 (1975-1987)
B-747-100B (1979-1990)
B-747-200B (1982-2009)
B-757-200 (1984-2012)
B-747-300 (1988-2010)
B-747-400 (1990-2012)

Douglas DC-8:

Retto Charters operated five Douglas DC-8 between 1974 and 1987: two of the -50 and three of the -63 series.
The first two machines were two surplus, second-hand, DC-8-50 recieved from Koutei Koku that chartered mainly between Toumachi and Honolulu airports. they sported Retto first livery, a blue cheatline curving into the vertical tail, with the rest of the plane left bare-metal. The name of the airline was spelled both in Kanji (Retto) and western alphabet (Charters), and the kanjis were replicated on the engines as well. The tail featured a chain of silver bubbles, a stylized representation of the Kokoan archipelago. With the delivery of the new 747-100Bs the DC-8-50s were both retired in 1980. Both converted o freighters they were sold off and ended up flying in Colombia and Perù for another decade.
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The three Dc-8-63 were former Eastern Airlines machines, and only five to six years old when they were bought in 1975/76. Their arrival made possible to increase chartered destinations with the addition of Kumoi, hoshiguma and Chiyoko domestically, plus Bangkok and Tokyo internatinally. In the early 80s' as Retto recieved the more spacius 747s the -63s were moved from the busisest routes (like Honolulu and Tokyo) and used to fly to newly opened destinations like Higashinada and Kailua, Hawaii. In the end The DC-8-63 were phased out in 1987 and sold to Scanair, replaced by the Boeing 757-200.
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Boeing 747:

Retto Charters was the only other Kokoan operator of the 747, owning or leasing over the years a total of 13 airframes -with ten being in service at the same time at its highest- split between two 747-100B, three 747-200B, two 747-300 and six 747-400s.

The airline ordered two 747-100B in 1978, recieving one the next year and the second in 1981, one of the world's only three operators of the type, the other being Saudi Arabian and Iran Air. The aircrafts operated on scheduled service (the carrier first) between Toumachi and Honolulu, and on charter service to Bangkok and Noumea. As the 747-200 and -300 later joined the fleet, Retto's 100B were moved to other routes and ended serving flights to Tokyo and Kailua (Hawaii). The type was withdrawn from service and stored in late 1990 as a cost-cutting measure while the gulf war exacerbated towards its peak causing fuel prices to go up. Even after the end of the fuel prices spike the two planes remained in storage and were eventually sold to Saudi Arabian in 1992, from there they somehow ended up beign sold to Iran Air by the end of the year, and kept flying until 2014.
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Retto also ordered two 747-200B in 1980, with deliveries made in 1982/83, themselves another little oddity in the airline world. They were one of the very few planes fitting the P&W JT9D-70A engines and the only full-passenger ones (SAS had the combi, and both Seaboard and Cargolux ones were freighters). Their arrival allowed Retto to add Higashinada and Guam to its destinations. One of the airline two 747-200s was also the first plane to be repainted with the new livery in 1986; canges were subtle, the cheatline sweeps forward and aft were deleted, moving to a straight line which no longer connected to the vertical stabilizer. The 'Koko Charters' title on the fuselage was made bigger, with the font of the western-styled part changed, The kanji disappeared from the engines, replaced by the airline logo.
A third 747-200 was also leased between 1999 an 2003 from Air Atlanta Icelandic to fill capacity needs before newer planes got delivered (something that ultimately did not materialized). The airframe was a former Japan Airlines machine which had flown with its first owner between 1974 and 1996. Interestingly, a new livery debuted on it as well, worth of mention as both Retto livery changes happened on 747-200s. The bare-metal fuselage and engines were now painted light silver and the cheatline was dropped. The airline titles were now all written in western style, but retaining the Japanese pronunciation of the world 'retto' (meaning archipelago), which was now dominant on the fuselage over a smaller 'charters' which lied below the cabin windows.
The two owned 747-200s served until retirement in 2009, as a consequence of the 2007/08 recession route-cuts. Both were stored until the airline closed down in 2012 and scrapped shortly after.
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In 1988 the airline recived a single 747-300 to cover routes to Naha (Okinawa) and Sapporo. A second, used airframe was then purchased in 2004 from South African Airways (after the used 747-200 was returned to Air Atlanta). This plane had been originally delivered to Singapore Airlines (1983-1996) and then sold to SAL (1996-2004), and served chartered southeast-Asia destinations (Bangkok, Denpasar, Jakarta, Manila, Ho-chi-min, Hanoi) under Retto Charters. Both -300s were retired in 2010. The used one was cannibalized for spares and scrapped in 2012 just after the airline stopped flying. The other was the only airframe that Koutei Koku actually took over, although it kept it stored as well to provide maintenance parts (except engines which were not compatible) for its fleet of converted 747 freighters. This airframe was scrapped as well in 2016.
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The arrival of the 747-400 marked the largest service expansion in the history of Retto Charters. While it got delivery of four between 1990 and 1994, the airline opened nine new destinations (one domestic, eight international), both scheduled and charter ones, three of them (Cairns, Brisbane and Sydney) in Australia alone. Retto's 747-400s also replaced the-100Bs on flights to Tokyo, Noumea, Honolulu and Kailua. In the late 90's the airline ordered six more, with the aim of replacing its older fleet of -200s and further expand its resort-oriented routes. The first airframe was delivered in late 1999, then as a stop-gap measure the airline leased a brand new 747-400 from Koutei Koku (the only aircraft in the entire history of Retto Charters to be powered by GE engines instead of PWs). When 9/11 indirectly affected air travel, reducing overal demand in the following months, the leased aircraft was returned to Koutei, while the other five on order wer deferred at first, then canceled altogether in 2004. When Retto kido stopped flying in 2012 its five 747-400s took the skies for other countries. One, the newest one delivered in 1999, went flying for Transaero, the other four were bought two each by United and Delta Airlines, which kept them stored for parts.
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Boeing 757:

In addition the the 747s, half of Retto Charters fleet since the late 80s had been made by 757-200s. The airline owned a total of nine, recieved in three different batches (1984-85, 1987-89 and 1992-94). The 757 constiuited an interesting series of uniqueness in a fleet which already had some on its own (one of the few 747-100B operators and one of the few fitting JT9D-70 engines): they were the only twin-engined planes operated by Retto Charters and the only 757s ever operated by a Kokoan airline.
The first two batches -five airplanes in total- replaced in service the DC-8-63s, and augmented the airline 747s on Hawaii-bound routes. Ultimately, especially after the second batch was delivered as well, Retto's 757s became the airline charter workhorse, felxibly filling all demand variation on the airline domestic, Hawaiian and Japanese destinations. One was lost in 2006 during a ferry flight when it hit the runway approach lights while landing at Kailua Airport, only one of the five crew was injured fortunately. Starting in 2009 the airline began storing some its 757 to adress service reductions, so that five had been parked already when Retto Charters closed down in 2012. UPS bought the four newest airframes for conversion into freighters while TACV (Cape Verde flag carrier) took over another one, the other three were scrapped.
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Azuma Hoseki Koku Kamotsu - Eastern Pearl Air Cargo:

Before diversifying its business and becoming Koko's largest leasing company Azuma Hoseki started in 1973 as a transportation and logistic company. to support its business the company estabished an airline division in May 1977, recieving permission to commence operations in December of the same year. Azuma Hoseki Koku Kamotsu (Eastern Pearl Air Cargo) purchased two used 727-200s from Koutei Koku and converted one of the two airframes into freighter configuration -while retaining the other for maintenance spares- and started operations in late September 1978, flying between Kumoi, Hoshiguma and Toumachi. Ovver the course of the years a few more 727s were purchased from Koutei, while Azuma main company successfully ventured into leasing. By the late 80's, despite the four freighters in its airline division had been bought from Koutei, Azuma itself was leasing four A300 passenger planes to Koko's flag carrier. Since 1990 all Azuma Hoseki aircrafts were actually owned by the head company and leased to its freighter division as well. Starting in 1994 the airline started to phase out its 727s, replacing with purpose A300-600 Freighters.
An attempt to develop an international network was also started in 1996, by adding tokyo, Taipei, Shanghai and Hong Kong to the airline destinations at once. This almost caused Azuma hoseki freighter division to almost go out of business less than a year later when the Asian economic crisis almost wiped out freight market in that area. In 1998 Azuma's cargo fleet was down to a single aircraft (the lowest since the 70's), but the carrier focused back to the domestic market just in time and manged to slowly recover (also thanks to its main company healty finances). through seasonal and long lasting leasings of purpose and converted freighters the fleet has grown back above early 90s levels and the future for the airline looks bright, as a few international destinations have been re-established as well.
Currently Azuma Hoseki Koku Kamotsu, operates a fleet of six freighters (all A300-600s) and flies to 6 domestic and 4 international destinations.

Operated aircrafts:
B-727-200F (1978-1995)
A-300-600F (1995-on, 6 in service)

Destinations:

-domestic:
Higashinada - Koko
Hokuto - Koko
Hoshiguma - Koko
Kumoi - Koko
Miyabi - Koko
Toumachi - Koko - Ryujin International airport (H)

-international:
Shanghai - China - Pudong International Airport
Hong Kong - Hong Kong - Hong Kong International Airport
Tokyo - Japan - Narita International Airport
Seoul - South Korea - Incheon International Airport

Boeing 727:

Azuma Hoseki Koku started flying cargo routes between toumachi, Kumoi and hoshiguma in late 1978 with a single converted freighter Boeing 727-200 bought from Koutei Koku. The livery that the aircraft sported was somewhat influenced by the former Koutei livery (although it was tchically entirely possible to not adhere to th former colour scheme). It retained the unpainted underelly and the white paint below the windows. The former red-blue Koutei cheatline and the entire top and tail of the aircraft (with the sole exception of the center engine intake) was painted bottle-green. The airline name was spelled in yellow/orange hiragana featuring only the initials A-Ho-Ko-Ka followed by a much smaller western name. The kanji for "eastern" took up most of th vertical stabilizer.
More airframes followed in 1984, 1986 and 1990 for a total of four (plus another two kept only for spare parts, one in 1978 and one in 1986), alowing to fly to higashinada, Hokuto and Miyabi as well. Plus a new international route to Tokyo Narita as well (although at limited payload). The type was retired in 1994/95 as the more capacious a300-600F entered service.
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Airbus A300:

To boost its cargo capacity and replace the ageing 727s Azuma Hoseki introduced the airbus A300-600F in 1995, with the distinction of beign the first airline to order and put in service the Pratt&Whitney-powered version (no other airline will do it for another five years). Azuma Hoseki will eventually operate, through short or long term leasing a total of nine different airframes: six purpose freighters and three converted (two of the latter previously flying in passenger configuration with Koutei Koku).
The introduction of the A300-600 marked a major livery change for the airline, which gave way the white painted parts and the bare metal underbelly in favour of a full-painted plane, all in bottle-green, including engines, pylons and flap track fairings. The airline name on the fuselage and tail logo remained the same. At frist two aircrafts were operated, one of which was briefly stored in 1998 at the height of the asian economic crisis as a cost-cutting measure. The tally would be back to two in 1999 then three by 2004 and four in 2009, although do to leasing cycles six aircrafts had actually alternated in service by that point.
The first converted freighter joined in 2010, a former Koutei Koku passenger plane (and powered by General Electric engines). Its introduction cohincided with another livery change. While the overall scheme remained unchanged the name written in hiragane on the fuselage made way for the full name of the airline wrritten in western alphabet "Eastern Pearl Air Cargo". The "eastern" kanji on the tail was made much smaller, now inscribed in a golden pearl, the logo of the entire Azuma Hoseki group. A second former Koutei koku plane joined the fleet in 2015 as well.
Currently, six A300-600s are operated by Azuma Hoseki -three purpose and three converted freighters. As both the oldest purpose and converted freighters airframes are approaching retirement age the airlines is looking for a replacement aircraft. There are currently rumors that Azuma Hoseki Risu Kaisha (basically Azuma Leasing, Azuma's group head company) is undergoing business negotiations with Koutei Koku, whose fleet of A330 freighters is beign leased from Azuma itself.
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Jump!:

Based at Higashinada Airport, Jump! is Koko's oldest low-cost carrier, and currently the second largest by fleet size (after Skyline). The airline started flying during spring 2002 operating two leased Boeing 737-400s on routes between Higashinada, Miyabi and Hokuto. Slow fleet grouwth in the newt years allowed to add Kumoi and Toumachi to the carrier destinations. Then in 2008, after the disappearance of Koko Airways Jump! started a more rapid expansion of services, ordering large numbers of 737-800s to cover newer market spaces and replace the older 737-400s, which were slowly phased out. Known for its colorful livery, Jump! currently operates a fleet of 30 aircrafts -all 737-800- with another 30 on order, and serves 28 domestic and 3 international (Tokyo, Seoul, Okinawa) destinations.

Operated Aircrafts:

B-737-400 (2002-2014)
B-737-800 (2009-on, 30 in service)

Boeing 737:

Jump! has always operated an all-737 fleet since it first days, with 10 737-400s and 30 737-800 flying under its colours at different times.

Operations started with two leased 737-400s in 2002, with the fleet -all leased- growing to 10 machines by 2007. with the entry into service of the larger 737-800 the aircrafts were turned back at the end of their leases and retired between 2012 and 2014.
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By the mid 2000s, with the airline eager to exploit Koko Airways crisis to expand its services, 25 Boeing 737-800s were ordered, with deliveries starting in 2009 and lasting until 2015. Recently, 15 more have been ordered, with the first five delivered in 2017. The new aircrafts also sport Jump!'s recently refreshed livery. All are fitted with 180 seats, all economy.
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In addition to the 737-800s currently on order Jump! also retains a backlog of 20 B737-MAX8.

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Koko - Civil Aviation (AU)

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