Hokkaido International Airlines Co. (Air Do) introduced smokers' seats Friday on its Sapporo-Tokyo route to attract smoking passengers in an effort to improve its financial situation, airline officials said.

Air Do has allocated a quarter of its seats to smokers on each of the route's 12 daily flights, allowing 70 passengers to smoke on the journey, the officials said.

The new system, designed to attract more passengers, is a controversial one that flies in the face of the no-smoking trend in the aviation industry. Antismoking groups have protested the move, saying it goes against the world's accepted norm.

Nonsmokers will be largely unaffected by smoking on the flights because of air-conditioning on the planes, the officials claimed, adding that they will ask smokers to limit themselves to one or two cigarettes during the flight.

The airline's first smoking flight arrived at New Chitose airport in Hokkaido at around 9:20 a.m. with 112 passengers on board, 11 of whom used the smoking seats.

Makoto Mukai, 51, a company executive from Chiba Prefecture, canceled his reservation with a major airline and switched to Air Do.

"I could bear (not smoking) for about an hour and a half, but I really wanted to smoke," he said. He added that he thought twice before smoking as he is aware that no-smoking flights are becoming the norm.

Air Do started discount flights between Sapporo and Tokyo in 1998 but has since seen a major decline in passengers as the nation's three major airlines cut fares on the same route to fend off the fledgling competitor.

The company expects its liabilities to exceed assets in the current fiscal year to March 31 due to stiff competition from the three domestic airlines.

Its prospects are currently unclear, due mainly to reluctance in the business community toward the company's request for additional financing.