ANA finalises LCC plan
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All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Hong Kong’s First Eastern Investment Group have finalised their joint venture agreement which will see the creation of a new low-cost carrier (LCC) based at Osaka’s Kansai International Airport.
The joint venture company, A&F Aviation Co Ltd, will be created with a capital investment of JPY30.05 million (US$366,000) to own and operate the new carrier. ANA will invest JPY10.05 million into the new company, with First Eastern Aviation Holdings Limited contributing a further JPY10 million. Other unnamed investors will add the remaining JPY10 million. Prior to the launch of operations, the company plans to generate approximately JPY15 million of additional investment from domestic investors.
The new company will apply for an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) with the aim of
launching low-cost services in the second half of next fiscal year. The CEO of the new company is planned to be Shinichi Inoue, currently Vice President of ANA’s LCC Joint Venture Project Team.
On announcing the plan last year, ANA’s President & CEO, Shinichiro Ito, said; “Under our corporate vision of becoming the number one airline group in Asia, ANA has been steadily working to substantially improve its network between Japan and Asia. Regardless of the intense competition in the air transportation industry, we anticipate an increase in passenger traffic demand in East Asia, and came to the conclusion that a low cost carrier would be the right approach to compete effectively in this market. We are pleased to partner with First Eastern and to work together to establish the first low cost carrier in Japan.”
The name of the new airline still hasn’t been announced although ANA has stated that will won’t fly under the ANA brand, or using the airline’s ‘NH’ code. It will serve both domestic and international routes using a single aircraft type, most likely to be the Boeing 737.
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