ANA to launch Tokyo-Seattle route from July 25

ANA today announces that it will launch its Tokyo–Seattle service earlier than planned with a start date of July 25, 2012.

ANA said last December that it aimed to begin services from Tokyo’s Narita airport to Seattle on the US West Coast in the second half of its fiscal year 2012 (October 2012-March 2013). However, ANA has decided to launch the route ahead of schedule in order to capture passenger demand over the busy summer season.

The route will be flown daily, initially using the Boeing 777-300ER, with services switching to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner during the course of the fiscal year. This will make it the first ANA service to the US to use the Dreamliner. Because of its greatly improved fuel efficiency and range, the Dreamliner is able to operate on longer routes where the market is not big enough to justify the use of jumbo-sized aircraft.

Launching the route ahead of schedule will further strengthen ANA’s business model as a network carrier and is in line with the group’s goal of accelerating its international expansion as set out in the 2012-13 Group Corporate Strategy.

ANA currently serves eight destinations in the U.S. with Seattle becoming the ninth. The airline also plans to launch services from Narita to the West Coast city of San Jose during the 2012 fiscal year. 

       Selman TENGÜZ

   Wednesday, May 18, 2011

       Talip BÖLÜKBAŞI

   Thursday, May 19, 2011