CHENNAI: All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s largest five-Star airline for seven consecutive years, will begin serving a route connecting Tokyo Narita International Airport and Chennai International Airport on October 27 utilizing the Boeing 787-8 aircraft.
This expansion will bring ANA’s number of total cities serviced to 46. This is the latest in a series of moves that increase the size of ANA’s Asia/Oceania network, including the recently announced route from Narita to Perth that begins service on September 1, 2019.
The new Chennai flight is part of ANA’s global strategy which prioritizes world-class international passenger service. When service begins this October, ANA will be the only airline providing direct flights from Japan to South India. This will be ANA’s third route offering service to India, along with flights from Narita to Mumbai and Delhi.
There are 1,441 Japanese companies present in India of which 200 are located in Chennai. ANA is targeting both passengers as well as cargo from Chennai to Japan.
This comes in the wake of Japan Ambassador Kenji Hiramatsu announcing the direct flight operations from japan to chennai during the inauguration of second edition of Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet. The route is being planned with a sizeable number of Japanese companies investing in Chennai.
"It is always exciting to add a new destination, but it is even more significant to be the only carrier offering connecting this growing region with Japan,” said Seiichi Takahashi, Senior Vice President of ANA.
"International passenger service is the main revenue generator for the ANA Group, and we hope to continue improving our market share in this dynamic sector as outlined in our mid-term Corporate Strategy for financial year 2018-2022. The new Chennai route will bring ANA’s world-class quality travel service to a beautiful and under-serviced region that is home to millions of potential new customers,” Takahashi said.
According to a release, the ANA flight NH 825 will leave Narita at 11:10 hours and reach Chennai at Chennai 17:45hours. Similarly, flight NH 826 will leave Chennai 20:30 hours and reach Narita at 7:25 hours next day. The flights are scheduled only on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.