All Nippon Airways (ANA) plans to launch three new European routes later this year, as well as resuming or expanding frequencies on existing services, amid strong inbound travel demand to Japan.
The Japanese carrier intends to add flights from Tokyo Haneda International Airport (HND) to Istanbul, Milan and Stockholm. All three destinations had been slated to join the airline’s network during 2020, but their launch was postponed because of the pandemic.
ANA is yet to confirm the planned start date or frequencies of the new European routes, but says flights to the cities will start during the northern winter 2024-25 season.
Additionally, the airline plans to resume seasonal 3X-weekly operations from HND to Vienna from Aug. 2 for the first time since May 2022, and increase frequencies to Munich Airport (MUC) and Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG). Flights to both MUC and CDG will rise to daily from July 1, up from 4X-weekly and 3X-weekly at present, respectively.
“The core of our growth in the next fiscal year will be our international flight business. We will firmly resume the international routes that were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic and inaugurate flights to new destinations to allow for more and new customers to experience the ANA Group,” says Koji Shibata, president and CEO of ANA.
Although the recovery of outbound travel from Japan since the pandemic has been sluggish due to the depreciation of the yen, inbound traffic has now surpassed 2019 levels, reaching 2.5 million monthly international arrivals in October 2023.
In the Tokyo-Istanbul market, ANA will join fellow Star Alliance member Turkish Airlines in connecting the cities nonstop. According to OAG Schedules Analyser data, Turkish Airlines currently offers daily service from Istanbul Airport (IST) to both HND and Tokyo Narita International Airport, operated using Boeing 777-300ERs and 787-9s, respectively.
The planned ANA route marks the latest Asia-Pacific success for Routes World 2023 host IST, which welcomed new flights from China Eastern Airlines in September, followed by Air China and Thai Airways in December. Turkish Airlines will also begin its first Australia service in March 2024.
Between Tokyo and Milan, ANA will become the first carrier to provide nonstop service since ITA Airways’ predecessor Alitalia, which flew to NRT from Milan Malpensa Airport until the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. ANA will also become the sole operator of flights between Japan and Sweden once the Stockholm route launches. Japan is Sweden’s top Asian export market after China, while about 150 Swedish companies have operations in Japan. Sweden in turn is the largest Nordic export market for Japan.
Elsewhere, ANA says it plans to enhance service on routes where “steady demand” is expected by increasing flights from HND to Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) and Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG), as well as resuming operations to Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) from NRT. PEK and PVG will rise to double-daily from March 31, while HKG is slated to restart on April 16.
In Japan’s domestic market, ANA says it plans to deploy its new 787-10 aircraft on routes with strong demand, while subsidiary Peach will increase the number of flights on the NRT-Sapporo and Kansai-Sapporo routes to a maximum of seven roundtrips per day. Narita-Okinawa will also rise to 3X-daily.
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