All Nippon Airways will operate its new Airbus A380 Honolulu service from Narita International Airport, with services to commence on 24 May 2019.
The service will initially operate thrice weekly, growing to ten times per week in July when the second aircraft is delivered, says ANA. The arrival date for the third aircraft has yet to be disclosed.
The first aircraft, MSN262, is being fitted out at Airbus’s facility in Hamburg. It rolled off the Toulouse final assembly line in August.
ANA A380 economy class
All images Greg Waldron
The airline shed more details on its plans at a media event in Tokyo that was attended by Hawaii governor David Ige. In a presentation, Ige noted that about 1.5 million Japanese visit Hawaii annually.
FlightMaps Analytics shows that during November 2018, six airlines will operate from Tokyo’s two airports to Honolulu, providing 97,000 seats. Of these, 20,000 seats are operated from Haneda, and 77,000 from Narita.
JAL is the main player accounting for 29% of capacity, followed by ANA with 24%. The other operators flying from Tokyo to Honolulu include Hawaiian Airlines, United Airlines, Korean Air, and Delta Air Lines.
The flight is firmly targeted at the Japanese leisure market, specifically families, couples on honeymoon, and passengers using air miles for a holiday.
ANA A380 First Class
ANA’s A380s will have 520 seats. The four class configuration includes 383 economy class seats on the main deck. The upper deck will have 137 seats with eight in first class, 56 in business, and 73 in premium economy.
The business class seats ANA will deploy on the A380 are unique in its fleet. The two seats in the centre row share an armrest in the middle, to better facilitate conversation between two passengers.
In addition, some economy class seats can be joined to create a lie flat bed.
ANA’s A380s will have the second densest configuration in the world. Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that the average seat density of the world’s 227 in-service A380s is 499 seats.
The 106 A380s operated by Emirates have an average of 522 seats, with 15 examples equipped with 615 seats.
ANA A380 business class
Source: Cirium Dashboard
