All Nippon Airways (ANA) announced suspending a total of 16 international routes as well as shrinking domestic operations. The air carrier has also decided to speed up the retirement of its Boeing 777 aircraft.
On January 26, 2021, the largest Japanese airline announced an updated flight schedule for FY 2021. ANA decided to cut 16 international routes that were previously planned for the summer season of 2021. The air carrier outlined that it would “aggressively reorganize its route network to maximize revenues“ as the COVID-19 related travel restrictions continue to negatively impact the levels of passenger demand.
Japan’s largest flag-carrier decided to suspend 10 international services from Tokyo Narita Airport (NRT), including to such destinations as Chennai (MMA), Dusseldorf (DUS), Jakarta (CGK), Mumbai (BOM), New York John F Kennedy (JFK), Perth (PER), Phnom Penh (PNH), San Francisco (SFO), Taipei (TPE), and Vladivostok (VVO).
In addition, ANA announced having indefinitely postponed the launch of 5 international routes from Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND) to Istanbul (IST), Milan (MXP), Moscow (DME), San Jose (SJC), and Stockholm (ARN) as well as Hong Kong (HKG).
As for domestic services, ANA decided to cut operations from Osaka Kansai Airport (KIX) to Fukuoka (FUK), Memanbetsu (MMB), and NRT-Itami (ITM). Meanwhile, the airline expects to resume the suspended destinations and increase the operating frequency as soon as the demand for air travel shows signs of recovery.
“Due to the continued impact of COVID-19 as well as related immigration restrictions and quarantine measures, ANA will continue to review and adjust its flight schedule and increase or reduce the frequency of flights accordingly. […] However, we will continue to monitor demand trends and resume or increase flights on a monthly basis,” read ANA’s statement.
“Our domestic operations will make up the core of ANA’s earnings, and the company will aggressively reorganize its route network to maximize revenues,“ is written in a release.
Meanwhile, ANA also plans to retire its Boeing 777 wide-body jets “ahead of schedule” while initially, the jets had to be gradually retired by 2023. In order to temporarily downsize operations and reduce its costs, the airline said it would “temporarily utilize aircraft for international routes on domestic flights“.
ANA outlined that with an aim to raise the efficiency in FY2021, it would reduce the usage rate of large aircraft by 50%, while the usage rate of small aircraft would be increased by 30% in comparison to FY 2020.