Time, it seems, is sounding the final death knoll for the YS-11, Japan's only domestically produced passenger aircraft.
Once a mainstay of the domestic air service, the 60-seat twin turboprop is being phased out from the nation's air routes as a new generation of passenger aircraft takes to the skies.
On Sunday, the YS-11 will retire from two Hokkaido air routes served by Air Nippon, one of two regional airlines still operating a small fleet of the aging planes.