ANA eyes domestic recovery; transit, cargo opportunities

ANA Group carriers will steadily ramp up domestic passenger capacity to reach pre-pandemic forecasts, as the airline eyes a recovery in domestic travel demand this year. The group, comprising mainline carrier All Nippon Airways, as well as low-cost unit Peach, expect to operate the same amount of capacity “as planned…before the Covid-19 pandemic” for fiscal years 2022, which begins on 1 April. “ANA will flexibly capture demand by utilising larger-sized aircraft, deploying aircraft [meant for] international routes, and offering additional flights. Peach will increase flights to capture demand for leisure travel, which is expected to recover at an earlier stage, as ANA and Peach will leverage their strengths to bolster the ANA Group network,” states ANA in an 18 January media release. The schedule forecast comes as the airline group pursues “transformative measures to shift to a new airline business model”. As part of these measures, both carriers will jointly develop flight schedules in the new financial year, with ANA transferring operations of selected international and domestic routes to its low-cost unit, and add its code to a number of Peach flights. Detailing plans for its domestic network, ANA says it will tap into business travel demand out of Nagoya, increasing the number of flights to several domestic points, including Sapporo, Sendai and Okinawa. <br/>