ANA All Nippon Airlines

Airreview > Tablet > ANA All Nippon Airlines > History
View in Mobile (fewer images) | Tablet | Classic

ANA All Nippon Airlines History

ANA's earliest ancestor was Nippon Helicopter and Aeroplane which dates from 1952. Nippon Helicopter is the reason for ANA's IATA code, NH. It started passenger service in February 1954, between two of Japan's largest cites between which it still flies on a very regular basis, Tokyo and Osaka, using a DC3. ANA merged with Far Eastern Airlines in 1957, and extended routes around southern Japan. It tried to used the name All Japan Airways, but that name was too similar to JAL, so it settled on ANA.

ANA grew steadily through the 1960s, introducing jet services with Boeing 727s from Tokyo to Sapporo. It also bought Japan's first homegrown turboprop airliner, the YS-11. ANA was Japan's largest domestic, however, the Ministry of Transportation gave JAL a monopoly on international scheduled flights, which remained intact until 1986.
All Nippon Airways Boeing 777 Jan 2008
All Nippon Airways the larger Boeing 777-300 at Tokyo

ANA purchased widebody aircraft for the first time in 1972, six Lockheed L-1011s. The carrier had initially ordered McDonnell Douglas DC-10s, but cancelled the order at the last minute and switched to Lockheed. It was later revealed that Lockheed had indirectly bribed Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka to force this switch. Boeing 747s were introduced on the Tokyo-Sapporo and Tokyo-Fukuoka routes in 1978.

ANA started scheduled international flights in March 1986, from Tokyo to Guam, Los Angeles and Washington, then in 1987 to Beijing, Hong Kong and Sydney, in 1989 to London and 1991 to Paris and New York. ANA joined the Star Alliance in October 1999.

By 2004 was in a luxurious position compared to many airlines: it had a surplus of slots due to the construction of new airports, so it started a fleet renewal plan that would replace some of its large aircraft with a greater number of smaller aircraft. As part of that ANA launch ANA Business Jet in 2007 using Boeing 737-700ER aircraft configured with 48 seats in two classes, from Tokyo to Guangzhou and Mumbai.

ANA has been pretty incident free throughout it's life, with the only serious fatal incidents occuring in 1958 and 1960 when Douglas DC-3s crashed, in 1966, when a Boeing 727 landing in Tokyo crashed into Tokyo Bay, with the loss of all passengers, and in 1971 when another Boeing 727 collided with an F-86 fighter. All 162 of those on board the Boeing 727 died.


Continue to ANA All Nippon Airlines hints, tips & website
Go back to top of page
Homepage with list of all airlines reviewed

ANA All Nippon Airlines index

ANA All Nippon Airlines Review Overview
Fleet & Seats
Entertainment
Inflight Experience
Frequent Flyer
Lounges
Routes
History
Tips
Food
Drink