All Nippon Airways’ (ANA) new express cargo business will start operating on 2 July using the first of seven Boeing 767-300BCFs the carrier has on order.
Singapore-based maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) firm Singapore Technologies Aerospace today formally delivered the first 767-300BCF to ANA.
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ANA senior VP cargo marketing and services, Kiyoshi Tonomoto, told flightglobal.com's sister premium news site ATI on the sidelines of the event that ANA’s new express cargo business is called All Express (Allex).
It will begin operating on 2 July when it puts into service the 767-300BCF it took delivery of today, he says, adding that this aircraft is the first of seven 767-300BCFs ANA has on order and all will go to Allex.
The new company will initially be based at Tokyo Haneda and Osaka Kansai airports and its first service will be on the Osaka Kansai-Tokyo Haneda-Shanghai routing.
Allex’s initial focus will be to launch more services to China as well as services to South Korea and Taiwan, he says. But by the end of 2009 it will shift base to Naha airport on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa and this will mark the beginning of Allex’s push into Southeast Asia, says Tonomoto.
He says Okinawa was chosen as its main base because all of Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia is within a 4hr flight range.
Besides the seven 767-300BCFs on order, Allex plans to get an additional three 767 freighters as well as four large widebodies, says Tonomoto.
This fleet of 14 aircraft will be in place by the end of March 2012, says Tonomoto, adding that a decision on what large widebodies to get will be made before the end of March.
Tonomoto declines to be drawn on what type of large widebodies Allex will get, but he rules out converted freighters because there are no conversion slots available to meet the airline’s timeframe.
He says Allex is likely to purchase new widebodies although it might opt for widebodies on aircraft, crew, maintenance and insurance (ACMI) leases instead.
Tonomoto says the aircraft it selects is likely to be of a type that ANA’s passenger airline already operates. ANA operates Boeing 747-400s and Boeing 777s.
ANA’s passenger business is reportedly poised to issue a request for proposals (RFP) for ultra-large widebodies that will pit the Airbus A380 against the Boeing 747-8 but Tonomoto declines to confirm or deny this.
He also declines to say if ANA Cargo will be involved in the RFP.
In a statement issued earlier this year ANA said Allex was a new joint venture cargo express business in which it has a 30.38% stake, logistics firm Kinetsu World Express has 30.38%, logistics company Nippon Express 30.38%, MOL Logistics 1.43% and Yusen Air & Sea 1.43%.
It says besides Shanghai, the airline’s other international destination to begin with will be Hong Kong.
Allex is a separate business to ANA & JP Express, which launched in 2006 as a joint venture between ANA with 51.67%, Japan Post with 33.33%, Nippon Express with 10% and Mitsui with 5%. ANA & JP Express operates four 767-300Fs.
Source: flightglobal.com's sister premium news site Air Transport Intelligence news
Source: Flight International
