A senior Hokkaido Prefectural Government official was tapped Wednesday to become the next president of the troubled domestic carrier Hokkaido International Airlines, commonly known as Air Do.
Michimasu Ishiko, 60, is currently in charge of watching over Hokkaido's public corporations. His appointment is expected to be finalized by the Air Do board at a shareholders' meeting in mid-February.
Sources close to the Hokkaido government said the appointment of a prefectural government official was inevitable if Air Do was to continue flying.
Ishiko will take the post vacated by the sudden death of Teruo Hamada in July. The carrier had called on the prefecture to choose a successor.
The Hokkaido government initially picked Hiromitsu Sawada, a former Japan Airlines official, but he declined the post due to Air Do's stalled talks with the prefecture and local firms about financial support.
Air Do first made headlines by offering seats on its Tokyo-Sapporo route at fares far below those of its well-established rivals.
But as the major carriers hit back with discount prices, Air Do was unable to increase its passenger load and fell into financial difficulty.
It is currently receiving some 450 million yen in emergency loans from North Pacific Bank because it could not cover maintenance costs.
Hokkaido has already agreed to extend 1 billion yen in loans to the ailing carrier, and local businesses have agreed to put up another 1 billion yen in capital for the airline in response to a request from the prefecture.
Ishiko, a Hokkaido native, joined the prefectural government in 1963 after graduating from Iwate University.