Due to “recent developments,” Niantic has announced it will be postponing the Pokémon Air Adventures collaboration that was scheduled to begin on July 22.
This collaboration was supposed to launch as a tie-in with the new Pokémon Air Adventures travel initiative in Japan, which will feature Pokémon-themed jets starting with a Pikachu, in partnership with Japanese aviation company Skymark. It will also include Pokémon designed buses, trains, and airport gates, along with in-flight merchandise.
Niantic would have pushed some in-game content live in Pokémon Go to help promote players going and creating “wonderful travel memories” alongside this collab. This was supposed to let players in Okinawa, Japan encounter a special Pikachu wearing an Okinawan kariyushi shirt.
It also would have seen Shiny Corsola made available for the first time as a separate regional exclusive in areas that Corsola normally appears, like points in Australia, Florida, and other tropical areas.
The developers were also going to look into potentially adding more costumed Pokémon that would be exclusive to certain regions in order to promote travel in other areas of the world, beyond just this activation.
There are no specifics about why the collaboration was postponed, but Niantic has promised to share more information once details surrounding the decision have been finalized. It is likely that data local health authorities has led to the idea being shelved until a later date.