Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) is to “significantly expand” international operations in the coming months, as it prioritises its international network after sharp cutbacks during the coronavirus pandemic.
In an operations update, the Star Alliance carrier says that for the 2024 financial year, which begins on 1 April, the carrier hopes to “maximise profitability” while meeting growing travel demand.
ANA’s European network will see a boost in operations, with flights from Tokyo’s Haneda airport to Munich and Paris increased to daily services from 1 July, up from the current four and three times weekly, respectively.
The airline will also resume operations to Vienna in August, a route suspended during the pandemic. ANA will also roll out operations to Milan, Stockholm and Istanbul during the 2024 winter schedule - which begins in November - after shelving these plans during the pandemic.
Within Asia, flights between Haneda and Beijing and Shanghai Pudong will be doubled to twice daily from 1 April, while thrice-weekly Tokyo Narita-Hong Kong flights will resume on 16 April.
ANA will, however, suspend its thrice-weekly flights between Narita and Beijing and Shanghai Pudong in the new fiscal year, shifting all operations to the Chinese cities to Tokyo Haneda instead.
The airline will also suspend flights between Narita and Perth after 13 April, only resuming them in November.
In Southeast Asia, ANA will increase the number of flights from Haneda to Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, from the current five times a week, to daily operations.
ANA’s low-cost, medium-haul unit AirJapan, which will begin flying in early February, is also expanding its operations as its fleet size increases. It has named Singapore as its third city, after Bangkok and Seoul Incheon.
The airline will take its second Boeing 787-8 in April, allowing it to launch five times weekly flights to Singapore, as well as increase its Bangkok flights to daily.
On its domestic network, ANA expects all but a full recovery in its operations. It will deploy newly-delivered 787-10s on domestic routes with high demand, while low-cost unit Peach Aviation will ramp up flights to Sapporo and Okinawa.
ANA also expects the the impact from technical issues with the Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engine to ease by end-July, allowing it to further ramp up domestic flying.
OTHER NETWORK NEWS
- AirAsia X will resume flying between Kuala Lumpur and the Chinese city of Xian, the fifth city in its growing Mainland China market. From 4 April, the carrier will begin thrice-weekly flights to Xian, making it the sole carrier to operate between both cities.
- From 9 April, AirAsia Thailand will begin flying three times a week between Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport and Visakhapatnam in India. The eastern city is the airline’s 10th point in India and comes as it sees strong travel demand from the Indian market.
- Taiwan’s Starlux Airlines will begin thrice-weekly flights from Taichung to Da Nang. The flights, which commence on 2 April, are part of the airline’s strategy of establishing Taichung as its second operations hub.
