Japan Transocean Air

The airline was established on 20 June 1967 as Southwest Air Lines (南西航空, Nansei Kōkū), and started operations in July 1967. It changed its name in July 1993. It had 814 employees (in March 2023) and is owned by Japan Airlines (51.1%), Naha Airport Terminal (17%), Okinawa Prefecture (12.9%) and others (19.1%). It flew Convair 240s until new capital from JAL allowed it to upgrade to NAMC YS-11s, and eventually Boeing 737s. JTA occasionally lends aircraft to JAL in the event of equipment failure. JTA also provides maintenance services for JAL Group Boeing 737-400 aircraft. JTA owns 74.5% of Ryukyu Air Commuter. At one time the head office of Southwest Air Lines was at 306-1 Kagamizu in Naha.

Destinations

As of November 2025, Japan Transocean Air flies (or has flown) to the following destinations:

Codeshare agreements

Japan Transocean Air currently has a codeshare agreement with the following airlines:

Japan Airlines

Interline agreements

Japan Transocean Air also has interline agreements with the following airlines:

Accidents and incidents

Since the airline's foundation, there has only been one accident which was under the former Southwest Air Lines brand.

On 26 August 1982, Southwest Air Lines Flight 611, a Boeing 737-2Q3, registration JA8444, overran the runway at Ishigaki Airport and was destroyed. None of the 138 passengers and crew were killed, but some were injured during the emergency evacuation.