On Tuesday, Japan-based All Nippon Airways (ANA) released its interim flight schedule for the remainder of 2021, which will focus mostly on profitable domestic routes. However, the overall domestic network will shrink. The carrier also announced that, as its Boeing 777 aircraft are retired, its more efficient Boeing 787 Dreamliner would be used on most long-haul flights. As COVID-19 continues to impact the airline industry, ANA will maintain flexible operations and provide monthly updates to its 2021 flight schedule, including changes and route suspensions.

Key Goals of FY2021

Due to COVID-19, ANA is keeping domestic routes the core focus of its 2021 flight operations. To maximize revenue and minimize costs, the carrier will continuously track demand across its network. It will respond appropriately with more flight frequencies or larger aircraft when it sees the potential for increased passenger load between city pairs, especially during peak seasons.

Furthermore, ANA is retiring half of its Boeing 777 aircraft earlier than initially planned and will temporarily use the other half on a few domestic routes. However, for environmental and cost purposes, small- and medium-sized narrow-body aircraft will make up most of its domestic operations. These will include Airbus A320s, Airbus A321 and Boeing 737s. Meanwhile, 16 of the company’s international routes will be suspended. Compared to 2020, ANA will use 50% fewer wide-body jets and 30% more narrow-body aircraft.

Domestic Routes Changes and Suspensions

The following routes have been suspended during summer 2021:

The following routes have been reduced or are temporary operations between certain dates:

The following routes have been temporarily increased between certain dates:

The following have been temporarily resumed or increased between certain dates:

ANA also mentioned that flights to Okinawa and Hokkaido and flights between Haneda and Miyako would be increased during the busy summer travel season.

International Routes

Sixteen routes have been suspended, and three routes will have decreased frequency in summer 2021. They include:

• Haneda to San Jose, Stockholm, Milan, Istanbul and Moscow
• Narita to San Francisco, New York, Dusseldorf, Vladivostok, Perth, Mumbai, Chennai, Phnom Penh, Jakarta and Taipei
• Kensai to Hong Kong

ANA said in a statement it “will continue to monitor local immigration restrictions and quarantine guidelines as well as demand trends and viability as it decides on the frequency of flights. Therefore, we will continue to announce flight schedules on a monthly basis, and resume certain routes according to demand trends.”

ANA Retiring Half of its Boeing 777 Fleet

In the announcement, ANA mentioned the retirement of half of the company’s Boeing 777 fleet. Currently, the airline has 50 aircraft but intends to retire 22 “earlier than planned.” That will leave ANA with 23 Boeing 777s, 12 of which are currently grounded. Meanwhile, there are 67 Boeing 787s ready for use at the airline. Only seven Dreamliners are grounded.

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Taylor Rains

Taylor Rains graduated from Florida Institute of Technology with a B.S. in Aviation Management in 2017. She has worked in the aviation industry for the past five years and has a specialty in safety analytics for part 121 airlines, but she has also worked for a part 135 company in Alaska. Her experience has allowed her to work in many areas of aviation, including airport operations, flight operations, security, inflight, dispatch, and maintenance. Taylor is also an avid traveler and has used her flight benefits to fly on as many airlines and aircraft types as possible. So far, her favorite flight has been aboard KLM’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

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