ANA to beef up European network; newly-launched AirJapan to fly to Singapore

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. <br/>