Imperial Airlines

Imperial Airlines (インペリアル航空) is a major 5-star airline of Takyoto. Imperial Airlines operates mainly out of its hubs at Nichiro International Airport, Toyokin-Ineku International Airport, and Kyūmura International Airport. It also has focus cites in Tsynghan and Sapporo. From these airports, the airline operates to many airports in Asia, Australasia, and North America. In 2012, it served 13.2 million passengers, which was a 2.7% increase from 2011, when it served 12.9 million passengers. However, it serves more domestic passengers than international passengers, since it operates a very light international route network.

Imperial Airlines was the first airline and only Takyotan airline to order the Shikome 18. It placed an order of 20 Shikome 18's and was the launch customer of the type. It received the first Shikome 18 in mid-March 2013. Imperial Airlines has expanded greatly since it commenced operations in 1961. It has become the second largest airline in Takyoto, after the nation's flag carrier, Takyoto Airways. Although the airline does not have any subsidiary airlines, the airline has expressed interests in some since 2000. However, it does market share deals with Takyoto Airways on the airline Contempo Air. Contempo Air is a low-cost, high-quality service airline. In addition to that, the airline has announced that it may start it's own cargo subsidiary, however, further discussions of this have not been heard of since 2011. The airline is the official sponsor of the Nichiro Dragons.

Origins
The airline's earliest known ancestor was Takyoto Fly (タキョトフライ). Takyoto Fly was the earliest airline to ever make it into the major market system, however, it was also a major failure.

Takyoto Fly had commenced operations in 1934 and had started using the then new Douglas DC-2 aircraft. It operated flights from Toyokin to Tsynghan and Kōdai during the weekdays. Soon, it added the Douglas DC-4 to its fleet in 1940 and started expanding flights from Toyokin to as far as Nichiro and Tokyo. Takyoto Fly had soon gotten a competitor, Island Isle Airways, one of the ancestors for Takyoto Airways. Island Isle Airways proved to be very popular, and had more destinations, and soon Takyoto Fly was failing and needed a merger.

Takyoto Fly soon made a deal to merge with Imperial Airways in 1950, another ancestor for Imperial Airlines. They completed the merger by 1952, and were now the largest airline in Takyoto at the time. They were using a fleet of new Comet and Douglas DC-6 aircraft. Although the Japanese market for aviation was growing and becoming profitable, the new Imperial Airlines decided to handle more domestic flights.