To date, the YS-11 is the only successful commercial aircraft made by a Japanese firm, either before or after World War II. 182 were produced in total. Although most of the aircraft was designed and manufactured in Japan, the engines were built by Rolls-Royce. Also, electrical appliances, gauges, machinery and cockpit hardware were supplied either from Japanese Industries or foreign overseas providers during the YS-11's time of production.

The consortium of companies that made up NAMC included Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Fuji Heavy Industries (now better known as the parent company of automobile manufacturer Subaru), both major producers of fighter planes during World War II. The twin-engined YS-11 delivered similar operational performance to the four-engined Vickers Viscount, and had 50% more capacity than the similarly-configured Fokker F.27.

Operations of the type began in 1965 with various improvements in payload, etc. being put into place.

By 1971, over 160 YS-11 aircraft had been deliverd to customers including Toa Airways, which was the first airline to use the YS-11 in 1965. Others are All Nippon, Austral/ALA, China Airlines, Cruzeiro, Filipinas Orient, Korean, LANSA, Olumpic, Piedmont, Southwest, Transair, VASP, Air Afrique, Merpati Nusantara and Mey-Air. 

On September 30, 2006, Japan Air Commuter flight 3806 marked the final flight for a YS-11 in Japan's commercial aviation industry. In 2007, the YS-11 was added to the Mechanical Engineering Heritage of Japan No. 13.