Wednesday, January 21, 2015

ANA reveals Kuala Lumpur and expansion at Narita.

On January 21st, All Nippon Airways [NH/ANA] revealed the resumption of Tokyo/Narita [NRT/RJAA] – Kuala Lumpur/Sepang [KUL/WMKK] from September 1st, to be flown daily with 240-seat (42 business and 198 economy class) Boeing 787-8s. Malaysia's capital was served via Bangkok/Don Mueang [DMK/VTBD] until December 2001.

Boeing 767-381 JA8291 left Japan on January 19th as NH9432, heading to Victorville (via Anchorage), where it will be scrapped. ANA's non-ER 767 fleet is now down to 18. As additional 787s arrive, more 767-300ERs will be converted to domestic configuration, replacing the older non-ER 767s. (Photo: Ryosuke Yano)

The route sees competition from AirAsia X [D7/XAX], which operates daily from Tokyo/Haneda [HND/RJTT] and four times weekly from Narita, Japan Airlines [JL/JAL] with a daily flight from Narita, and Malaysian Airline System [MH/MAS] (d.b.a. Malaysia Airlines) with 10 times weekly from Narita.

Flight Schedule:
Narita – Kuala Lumpur/Sepang NEW 1 daily with 787-8. (2015/Sep/1 - Oct/24)
NH815 NRT 1720 – 2335 KUL 788 Daily
NH816 KUL 0700 – 1500 NRT 788 Daily

Meanwhile, additional frequencies from its Narita hub were also announced, strengthening its Haneda/Narita dual-hub strategy for Tokyo. The resumption of its second daily flights to Bangkok/Suvarnabhumi [BKK/VTBS] and Singapore/Changi [SIN/WSSS], along with new daily service to Houston/George Bush [IAH/KIAH] had been previously announced (ANA announces Houston and Southeast Asia expansion.), but a second daily flight to Honolulu [HNL/PHNL] from July 17th has been added to the list.

Flight Schedule:
Narita – Honolulu increase from 1 to 2 daily. (2015/Jul/17 - Oct/24)
NH184/NQ184 NRT 2035 – 0910 HNL 76W/763 Daily *NEW from Jul/17.
NH182/NQ182 NRT 2130 – 1005 HNL 76W/763 Daily
NH183/NQ183 HNL 1140 – 1455(+1) NRT 76W/763 Daily *NEW from Jul/17.
NH181/NQ181 HNL 1300 – 1615(+1) NRT 76W/763 Daily

It will also continue its second daily Haneda – Hong Kong [HKG/VHHH] service twice a week (ANA adds Haneda – Hong Kong midnight flight.), and increase its Narita – Chengdu [CTU/ZUUU] route from four times weekly to daily from March 29th.

ANA is also reportedly working to launch Haneda – Sydney [SYD/YSSY] during FY2015, possibly from the Winter 2015/2016 timetable. Economic ties are expected to grow after the Australia-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) came into effect this month, and Qantas Airways [QF/QFA] has already announced plans to start flying the route in August using Haneda's midnight slots. Japan's now largest carrier operated Narita – Sydney, via Brisbane [BNE/YBBN], until June 1998, and Osaka/Kansai [KIX/RJBB] – Sydney until March 1999.

Other routes that seem to be on ANA's wishlist are Haneda – Istanbul/Atatürk [IST/LTBA] (ANA considering Haneda – Istanbul.) and a non-stop route to Cambodia (either Phnom Penh or Siem Reap), which would be a first for any scheduled carrier.

Source: All Nippon Airways, January 21st. (in Japanese)

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