Seeds of success “Passenger feedback has been really positive in the year since we put our 737-800s in service.” – Hiroshi Takahashi, president and CEO of Solaseed Air PhOTO: SOlASEEd Japanese airline has a catchy new name, along with new Boeing 737 jets By Kevin Yoo Miyazaki-based Solaseed Air may well be Japan’s The economic benefits in terms of fuel efficiency and maintenancereally positive in the year since we put our 737-800s in service—they love the new brand and the added comfort of the new cabin.best-kept secret. That’s because it is a newly mintedJapanese domestic airline that until recently was known as Skynet Asia Airways. have made a real difference to our bottom line.” After a decade of service connecting customers from Tokyo Solaseed Air’s new Boeing 737s also are the first to wear to locations in Kyushu—a popular leisure destination in southern the airline’s distinctive pistachio-green-and-white insignia, which Japan and the nation’s third-largest island—airline executives and defines its motto to “seed smiles in the sky.” employees celebrated the 10th anniversary milestone by presenting “The fresh, pistachio green of our logo and the color highlights themselves with an unconventional birthday present—a refreshed and patterns of our interior trim symbolize youth, energy and brand with a new logo, name, livery and airplanes. growth,” said Kaz Yokota, general manager of Corporate Plan- Boeing played an important role in the airline’s strategic make- ning for Solaseed Air. “They also represent the beautiful natural over. Renewing its all-Boeing fleet of 10 737-400 airplanes, the landscape of Kyushu—the island on which our hometown is airline took delivery of its first two Boeing Next-Generation 737-800 located—as well as evoking the unique gardens of Japan.” airplanes ahead of the milestone celebration. Equipped with “Sola” is the Japanese word for sky, while “seed” represents Boeing’s new Sky Interior, they were the airline’s first 737s to take new life, vitality, strength and momentum. to the skies under the new brand name—Solaseed Air. The carrier “‘Solaseed’ is a play on words,” Yokota said. “In Japanese, it sounds continues to operate an all-Boeing fleet of 10 737s that now like ‘so, la, si, do,’ which follows ‘do, re, mi, fa’ in the musical scale.” includes four Next-Generation 737-800s and six 737-400s. The airline hopes its catchy name will also be music to customers’ “As we entered our 10th year of operation, we not only had a ears when they book flights—on its growing fleet of Boeing jets. n new look and feel to mark the special occasion, but we were one kevin.k.yoo@boeing.com of the first operators in Japan to fly the 737-800 with the advanced and passenger-pleasing Boeing Sky Interior,” said Hiroshi Takahashi, PhOTO: One of Solaseed’s Next-Generation 737-800s takes off president and CEO of Solaseed Air. “Passenger feedback has been from Boeing Field in June 2011. JIM ANdERSON/BOEING BOEING FRONTIERS / OCTOBER 2012 19
Frontiers October 2012 Issue
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