ANK Air Nippon was a wholly owned subsidiary of ANA mainly operating short routes to isolated islands in support of ANA’s domestic services. Among these were the Izu Islands stretching South of Tokyo. While each of these volcanic island has a specific touristic appeal, Mikura-jima is known for dolphin watching. Island Dolphin is the name of the species that can be observed in the area.
Note that prior to this, the airline’s B737-500 were already named Super Dolphin and had a dolphin decal on the engines. These two -400 series were initially added to fly the Haneda-Hachijojima route, from where helicopters and boats can bring you to Mikurajima.
JA391K started operating the route on July 1, 2000. Unlike JA391K, JA392K did not sport ANK tail titles. The small Island Dolphin and "-GO! Hachijojima -" titles were only in Japanese and were removed in 2002; around 2004 the Japanese flag was replaced by a small decal celebrating the 30 Years of the ANA subsidiary. Later on JA391K would be stationed in Fukuoka.
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