ANA to Fly to Frankfurt with 787

All Nippon Airways (ANA) has confirmed that Frankfurt will be the first international destination outside of Asia to welcome its Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The Japanese carrier has revealed that it will inaugurate a three times weekly service between Tokyo Heneda and Frankfurt from January 21, 2012, increasing to a daily service from February 1, 2012. This will be the first route to be flown under its new joint venture operations with fellow Star Alliance member Lufthansa.

ANA already serves Frankfurt from Tokyo Narita, as well as the Bavarian capital Munich, but like many operators is seeing the merits of offering complementary services from Tokyo Haneda, since better access has been provided at the airport. It will configure its aircraft in a modified 158-seat layout with 46 lay-flat Business Class and 112 Economy seats (its regional 787s will seat 264 passengers in a two-class arrangement with just 12 Business Class and 252 Economy class offering).

An estimated 905,000 O&D passengers travelled between Germany and Japan in the past year with around 300,000 flying between Tokyo and Frankfurt. ANA currently holds a 15 per cent share of this O&D market with its daily flights, while Japan Airlines (JAL) has a 35 per cent share and Lufthansa 38 per cent; the latter utilising an Airbus A380 on its daily schedule.

ANA will initially place the 787 into service on the Tokyo Haneda – Okayama and Tokyo Haneda – Hiroshima domestic routes from November 1, and has already confirmed that China will be the first international market for the type when it is introduced on ANA’s Tokyo Haneda – Beijing service sometime in December.

“This aircraft will enable us to offer new standards of service and comfort to our passengers and will play an important role in our international expansion strategy as we seek to become Asia’s number one airline,” said Shinichiro Ito, President and Chief Executive Officer, ANA Group following the recent delivery of its first aircraft.