Like many of the legacy airlines we’ve covered in our ongoing fleet series,
Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (A.N.A.) has a fairly diverse collection of aircraft.
Not only was it one of the last carriers to place an order for the Airbus A380, but it’s one of just
three airlines to operate all three variants of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. With narrowbodies and
widebodies from both Airbus and Boeing, let’s take a closer look at the ANA fleet in 2022…
If we exclude the 11 freighters listed as part of its mainline fleet, then ANA operates a
total of 203 commercial passenger aircraft - at least according to data from Planespotters.net.
Altogether, the average fleet age is around eight and a half years. However,
if we were able to factor-out the aging 767-300 freighters, which are all between 15 and 30
years old, then this figure would likely be lower- perhaps closer to seven years.
Going type by type, and smallest to largest, let’s first start with the Airbus A320neo. The airline
has 11 of these aircraft which average just under four years. The first of these was delivered in
December 2016 while the youngest came in March of 2020. Prior to the arrival of the A320neos, ANA
also operated some 36 A320ceos. The last three of these were removed from the fleet in May of 2021.
The airline also operates 39 of the similarly sized Boeing
737-800. These average about nine and a half years of age,
with the first being delivered in 2008 and the last in 2018. The airline also operated
the 737-700 up until June of 2021, with the airline slowly phasing these out from 2020.
Moving up in size, ANA operates both the neo and ceo versions of the Airbus A321. Indeed the
airline has four A321-200s which average just five and a half years, as well as 22 A321neos,
which average about two and a half years. The airline took delivery of seven neos in 2021.
The next largest aircraft is the Boeing 767. ANA uses 18 767-300s for its passenger operations.
The youngest of these is just over 10 years of age while the oldest is just over 20 years old!
The Boeing 787 is next in the fleet. As mentioned earlier, the airline operates
all three variants of this type, having 36 -8s, 39 -9s, and just two -10s. Unfortunately, ANA
is another airline caught up in Boeing’s 787 production and delivery problems,
as the carrier is expecting more -9s and -10s in the future.
ANA was the global launch customer of the 787, ordering the jet in 2004 and taking delivery
of the first-ever Dreamliner, a 787-8, in 2011. The airline originally placed a firm
order for 50 aircraft, with deliveries initially scheduled to begin in 2008.
At the time of the order, ANA asked for 30 of the never-built 787-3.
This would have been a middle-of-the-market variant tailored to domestic services.
With a dense passenger capacity of 290 – 300 seats, the 787-3 would have been
ideal for ANA’s high-demand domestic routes. However, Boeing never developed the type,
causing ANA to switch its order to the same sized but lower capacity, 787-8.
In February 2020, the airline announced that it would be ordering 20 787s, with the goal of
bringing its fleet of Dreamliners to 103 by 2025. The latest order was for 11 -10s and nine -9s.
The -10s were set to go into service for Japan-domestic
routes sometime between 2022 and 2024
while the -9s were purchased for international routes - entering service in 2024 and 2025.
It’s unclear how much the pandemic and Boeing’s production issues have affected the carrier’s
timeline. In October of 2020, the carrier said it would be cutting or delaying its aircraft orders.
However, no specifics were given on this. Now, in 2022, with Japan set to re-open its doors to
tourism soon, ANA might indeed be wanting some of the Dreamliners it ordered two years ago.
Moving on, ANA operates 31 Boeing 777s - but 29 if you exclude the two 777Fs
that it welcomed into its fleet in 2018 and 2019.
ANA operates a handful of 777 variants: The base model 777-200 with 10 examples,
four examples of the base model 777-300, and 15 of the longer range 777-300ER. Indeed,
ANA was just one of a handful of operators to operate the non-ER version of the 777-300.
While most airlines eventually went for the 777-300ER,
many carriers in Asia were happy with the standard 777-300. That’s because the jet
worked well on high-volume short and medium-haul routes (just as the 777-200 had). Cathay Pacific,
Thai Airways, Japan Airlines, and ANA were among the few operators that used 777-300.
It’s not just part of it’s 777 fleet that is better-suited for shorter, high-capacity routes.
Indeed, ANA has had a similar collection of 747s in the past with the 747-400D. This jet had a
shorter range than the standard -400 and also lacked the winglets normally seen on the type.
The airline retired the last of its 747 jumbo jets back in 2014.
At its peak, the carrier operated over 40 of the type.
Going back to the 777s, the airline has 29 passenger examples of the twinjet at the moment.
However, this number was much higher even just a few years ago.
From 2020 to 2021, the airline retired 10 777-200s, three 777-300s, and 13 777-300ERs.
Some of these jets are scrapped, others are stored, and two lucky 777-300ERs have managed
to continue flying as part of Eastern Airlines’ fleet in the United States.
The final type of aircraft being flown by ANA is the Airbus A380. The airline
first announced its intention to purchase three A380s in 2015 with the order firmed up in 2016.
The intention is and has always been to use the three superjumbos
for high-volume services between Tokyo and Hawaii.
ANA was one of the last carriers to place and order for the quadjet,
before Airbus eventually announced the end of the program in 2019.
For ANA, it’s first of the three a380s arrived in March 2019. This special collection of jets
within the ANA fleet would have a special livery. As Airbus noted in a 2019 statement:
“Each ANA A380 will feature a special livery depicting the Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle,
also known as the Honu. The livery on the first aircraft will be painted in blue,
while the second will be green and the third orange.”
One of the more unique features of the airlines superjumbos was
the ability for 60 economy class seats to convert into couches.
Recommended for families and couples, the feature named ANA “COUCHii” was the first couch seat to
be offered by a Japanese airline and is available for an additional fee on top of the Economy Class
fare. COUCHii works by letting passengers combine three or four seats to make a single couch seat.
Speaking about the airlines decision to acquire and operate the jets,
ANA CEO Shinya Katanozaka said the following in 2019:
“We believe the A380 will become a game changer for ANA and will enable us to
increase our market share by doubling the number of seats connecting Honolulu and Tokyo by 2020,”
Sadly, the pandemic would result in ANA’s plans coming to a grinding halt. Two of the
three aircraft, the blue and green turtles, would be delivered before the pandemic.
The third, orange-colored A380 was finally delivered on October 15th,
2021 after spending most of the health crisis
sitting in storage. The aircraft had initially been planned to be delivered in May 2020.
All three jets have been more or less inactive for the past two years.
However, this will change quite soon.
That’s because the giant of the skies is scheduled to resume flights between Tokyo Narita
and Honolulu on July 1st, exactly three years after its second A380 started revenue flights.
Until demand fully returns, just two flights per week are planned. This will likely increase as the
market continues to recover. —-
When it comes to future aircraft type joining ANA, the airline intends to acquire 20 777X aircraft.
This order was placed back in March 2014
but is now undoubtedly delayed. Initially set to be delivered in March 2021, the pandemic and
ANAs resulting financial issues were behind the airlines decision to defer delivery. Of course,
with Boeing having its own issues getting the type certified and into commercial service,
the US plane maker probably isn’t too worried about ANA wanting the jets later.
With its uniquely-painted A380s and all three variants of the 787 Dreamliner,
ANA certainly operates an interesting fleet of aircraft.
Indeed, it’s not just the a380s getting special paint schemes as the airline has also given many
of its jets special liveries over the years. Some of the airline’s most memorable liveries
have to do with Star Wars while it has also sported special Pokémon liveries in the past.
With Japan finally opening up this year hopefully we will see more of
ANA’s aircraft in the skies in the months to come.
Have you ever flown with ANA? What did you think of the airline? Let us know by leaving a comment!