Ryukyu Air Commuter (RAC) is a Japanese

regional airline A regional airline is a general classification of airline which typically operates scheduled passenger air service, using regional aircraft, between communities lacking sufficient demand or infrastructure to attract mainline flights. In North ...

headquartered in

Naha is the Cities of Japan, capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture of Japan. As of 1 June 2019, the city has an estimated population of 317,405 and a population density of 7,939 people per km2 (20,562 persons per sq. mi.). ...

Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan. It consists of three main island groups—the Okinawa Islands, the Sakishima Islands, and the Daitō Islands—spread across a maritime zone approximately 1,000 kilometers east to west an ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It operates domestic passenger services from the island of

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

to other islands of

and the

Amami Islands The The name ''Amami-guntō'' was standardized on February 15, 2010. Prior to that, another name, ''Amami shotō'' (奄美諸島), was also used. is a Japanese archipelago in the Satsunan Islands, which is part of the Ryukyu Islands, and is sout ...

Kagoshima Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,527,019 (1 February 2025) and has a geographic area of 9,187 Square kilometre, km2 (3,547 Square m ...

. It is owned by

Japan Transocean Air Japan Transocean Air (JTA) is an airline based in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It operates domestic services on behalf of Japan Airlines. Its main base is Naha Airport. From 1967 until 1993, the airline was known as ''Southwest Air Lines''. ...

(74.5%),

(6.3%), Minamidaitō (4,8%)

Kumejima is a town located in Shimajiri District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The town consists of the islands of Kume, Ōjima, Ōhajima, Torishima, and Iōtorishima. Among the islands, only Kumejima and Ōjima are populated. Kumejima is located appr ...

(4,3%) Kitadaitō (4,0%) and other shareholders (6,1%).

History

Ryuku Air Commuter was established on December 24, 1985, with help from joint investments from the local government and local businesses. The following year they received the air transport license and the airline started operating flights between

and Kerama on the 17th of February 1987. This route was operated with a Britten-Norman BN-2B Islander seating up to nine people. The next route introduced by the airline was from

to Aguni and commenced on December 20, 1989. On November 16, 1992, Ryuku Air Commuter took over two

De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada in the mid-1960s and still in production today. Built by De Havilland Canada from 1965 to 1988, Viking ...

aircraft from

(then known as ‘Southwest Air Lines’), with a capacity of 19 seats this aircraft type had a significantly higher capacity than the BN-2B. With the introduction of these new aircraft, the airline was able to increase its operations and also operate out of other airports than just Naha. With this growth in the operations the airline started to grow into a commuter airline with wide network of the islands within the prefecture, with the main hub being from the island of

(

Naha Airport is an international airport located west of the city hallAIS Japan
in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It is Japan's ...

). As a replacement for the DHC-6 Twin Otter the DeHavilland Bombardier Dash 8 100 (DHC-8-100) was introduced in 1997, allowing for even greater capacity by seating up to 39 seats. With this larger aircraft the airline started two new routes that same year from Naha to Yoron and

. In the following years the airline would see an expansion of their network throughout the

and expanding their fleet with more modern variants of the DHC-8 aircraft. In 2015, the airline signed a firm purchase agreement for five Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 passenger/cargo

combi aircraft Combi aircraft in commercial aviation are aircraft that can be used to carry either passengers as an airliner, or cargo as a freighter, and may have a partition in the aircraft cabin to allow both uses at the same time in a mixed passenger/fre ...

, following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding in 2014. It became the launch customer for this new variant aircraft upon delivery in 2016. The final Bombardier Dash 8-Q300 flight was on 31 January 2018.

Destinations

Scheduled destinations (as of November 2019):Route Network
" ''Ryukyu Air Commuter''

Fleet

Current fleet

, Ryukyu Air Commuter operates the following aircraft:

Former fleet

Ryukyu Air Commuter has previously operated the following aircraft: *

Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander The Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander is a British light utility aircraft and regional airliner designed and originally manufactured by Britten-Norman of the United Kingdom. Still in production, the Islander is one of the best-selling commercial air ...

* De Havilland Canada Dash 8-100 * De Havilland Dash 8-300

References

External links

RAC official web site (Japanese)
{{Airlines of Japan Regional airlines of Japan Japan Airlines Airlines established in 1985 Companies based in Okinawa Prefecture Japanese companies established in 1985