ANA sets sights on Perth

Western Australia’s capital, Perth, has been identified as the next priority destination for All Nippon Airways if its new Sydney service, which began last month, is a success.

“We want to fly to other destinations in Australia,” ANA president and chief executive Osamu Shinobe told the Star Alliance conference in Chicago. Bookings for the Sydney service were “solid”, he added, with more business travellers booked than on ANA’s previous flights, which the airline stopped in 1999.

A surge in economic activity between Australia and Japan had tipped the scale in favour of Australian travellers, he added, as well as the more profitable Business Class seats.

The airline has begun the daily flights between Tokyo to Sydney using the Boeing 787, with the first service featuring the airline’s signature Star Wars-themed aircraft.

Shinobe’s remarks came less than a week after Japan Airlines chairman Masaru Onishi indicated Perth was a “possible destination” for his airline next year.

Sources in Japan quoted by the newspaper Western Australian said planning was well advanced and had been accelerated after the Paris terrorist attacks, which negatively affected JAL’s traffic to Europe.

Perth’s direct connection with Tokyo stopped in 2011 when Qantas withdrew a three-times weekly B767 service.  www.ana.co.jp    www.jal.com

Index/Home page
 

OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum

---