Air Japan, the low-cost subsidiary of All Nippon Airways (ANA), is set to receive its first Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner adorned in the official airline livery. The aircraft was photographed at the Xiamen Airport, where it landed on December 2nd to undergo the new paint job.
The Boeing 787-8 assigned to Air Japan, registered as JA803A, is 11 years old and was delivered to ANA in August 2012 with a two-cabin configuration accommodating 231 passengers. On May 30th, it was transferred to Air Japan and reconfigured to a single-cabin layout with 324 economy seats.
Last December 2nd, it departed from Tokyo/Haneda Airport bound for Xiamen, where it underwent inspection and received the Air Japan livery. The aircraft is expected to return to Japan in the coming days for reintroduction into the low-cost carrier’s operations.
Air Japan’s History
Air Japan was founded on June 29, 1990, under the name World Air Network. Its role within the ANA group was to establish itself as a charter flight company, but it did not thrive, and in 1995, it ceased operations.
In 2000, the company adopted its current name, continuing operations under the ANA brand. In 2001, it relaunched as a regular airline, with its inaugural flight from Osaka to Seoul, South Korea, operated by a Boeing 767-300 transferred from the parent airline.
In 2010, the ANA Group announced the merger of Air Japan and ANA & JP Express under the Air Japan brand, but it wasn’t until 2018 that the airline began operations with a Boeing 787 transferred from ANA.
Low-Cost Endeavors
In March 2022, Air Japan would change the course of its history. The ANA Group announced that the airline would become its new low-cost subsidiary for medium-haul flights. The first flights took off in February 2023 under the slogan «Fly Thoughtful.»
Until then, Air Japan shared the same code with All Nippon Airways on all flights, except those bound for Seoul, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Honolulu.
On March 9, 2023, the ANA Group announced that the low-cost carrier would expand its services to Southeast Asia from February 2024, operating a fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners with a capacity for 324 passengers.
With its low-cost subsidiary, ANA aims to compete with ZipAir, an airline in the same sector. According to the Japan Air reservation system, on February 9 of this year, it will begin flying between Tokyo-Narita and Bangkok, operating this route with a daily flight, and on the 22nd of the same month, it will initiate service between Tokyo and Seoul, Incheon, with five weekly flights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
