Japan’s ANA slashes S21 int’l capacity, to retire B777s

ANA – All Nippon Airways (NH, Tokyo Haneda) will suspend services on 16 international routes from late March due to poor demand while also starting to phase out older aircraft, it outlined in an interim plan of operations for the Summer 2021 season, unveiled on January 26. Japan’s biggest carrier will seek to cut costs through the early retirement of its B777s, replacing them on many long-haul routes with smaller, more fuel-efficient B787s, in line with a plan initially announced in October 2020. With a recovery of international travel not yet on the horizon, ANA will halve the number of “large aircraft” with high operating costs that it operates by the end of the current fiscal year, ending March 31, specifically naming thirteen B777-300(ER)s. According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, ANA’s current B777 fleet consists of four B777-200s, eleven B777-200(ER)s, seven B777-300s, and twenty-six B777-300(ER)s. All are owned except for six of the -300(ER)s. Its newer B787 fleet consists of thirty-six B787-8s, thirty-six B787-9s, and two B787-10s. It has a total fleet of 260 aircraft. Services to be halted between March 28 and October 30 include those from Tokyo Narita to Chennai, Düsseldorf Int’l, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta, New York JFK, Perth Int’l, Phnom Penh, Mumbai Int’l, San Francisco, CA, Taipei Taoyuan, and Vladivostok, while frequencies between Tokyo Haneda and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi will be cut. ANA has also shelved planned launches from Haneda to Istanbul New, Milan Malpensa, Moscow Domodedovo, San José, CA, and Stockholm Arlanda. Overall capacity is likely to be half of last year’s initial plan for the period, while international capacity will be 80% lower than the initial plan, the Japan Times reported. The airline also plans to introduce in April sabbatical leave of up to two years that will allow around 15,000 employees to pursue personal interests such as studying. The move, unprecedented in Japan in terms of the length of the leave, comes as ANA tries to cut labour costs, having already furloughed many cabin crew. The leave will be unpaid, but the company will provide JPY200,000 yen (USD1,920) to those who start a sabbatical of more than one year.