Air Central

Air Central Co., Ltd. (エアーセントラル株式会社 Eā Sentoraru Kabushiki Gaisha) is a regional airline company based in its hub Chubu Centrair International Airport (Centrair) near Nagoya, Japan which operates some All Nippon Airways (ANA) flights as a member of the ANA Group. Its IATA Airline Designator is NV, but the code appearing on the tickets is always NH after ANA.

(New Central Air Service or New Central Airlines (NCA) (新中央航空 Shinchūō Kōkū) which serves from Chofu Airport in Chofu, Tokyo is irrelevant.)

Contents

Routes

From Chubu Centrair International Airport (IATA Airport Code NGO) near Nagoya, currently it serves following destinations in Japan's Honshu and Shikoku Islands.

Tottori Airport (TTJ), Tottori, Tottori
Yonago Airport (or Miho Airfield YGJ), Sakaiminato, Tottori near Yonago
Tokushima Airport (or Airfield 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 Sendai Airport (SDJ), near Sendai, Miyagi to Narita International Airport (NRT) route.

Fleet

Fokker F50 (phasing out, red livery probably after Nagoya Railroad but being repainted in blue livery of ANA)
DHC8-400(Q400) (progressively leased and carrying blue livery of ANA)

History

In 1953, Nakanihon Air Service Co.,Ltd. (中日本航空株式会社 Nakanihon Kōkū Kabushiki Gaisha) (NAS) was founded near Nagoya Airport. ([1]) Its major shareholders progressively included Nagoya Railroad and ANA. Its core business has been in general aviation, including scenic and charter flights, aerial photography and helicopter services. ([2])

On May 12, 1988, a new affiliate company Nakanihon Airline Service (中日本エアラインサービス lit. Mid-Japan Airline Service) (NAL) headquartered in Nagoya Airport by joint venture between Nagoya Railroad (55%) and ANA (45%) was founded to handle scheduled commuter services.

On November 1, 2004, ANA became the majority (55%) shareholder of NAL.

On Februrary 17, 2005, NAL was renamed to the current name and was relocated to Centrair. 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.