Amakusa Airlines (MZ, Amakusa) has signed a codeshare agreement - its first - with JAL - Japan Airlines (JL, Tokyo Haneda). Under the terms of the deal, JAL will place its code on all Amakusa's flights, which includes flights from Amakusa to Fukuoka, Kumamoto and Osaka Itami, from April 1.
According to the ZipanguFlyer blog, the decision to codeshare with JAL was taken after research showed the ATR42-600, the aircraft the carrier plans to use as a replacement for its sole aircraft - a DHC-8-100 - next year, would suffer from excess capacity during off-season months in particular. As it stands, the Dash 8 already suffers from the same plight albeit on a lesser scale.
