Highlights:
- ANA is placing into service its first Boeing 787-10 in Apr-2019 on the Tokyo Narita-Singapore route;
- Tokyo Narita-Bangkok will be ANA's second 787-10 route, launching in Jul-2019;
- ANA will increase its economy capacity to Singapore by around 15% and to Bangkok by around 5% as the 787-10 replaces smaller 787 variants.
ANA will become the second operator of all three 787 variants after US major United Airlines. ANA currently has a fleet of 36 787-8s and 30 787-9s (including aircraft temporarily grounded due to engine issues), according to the CAPA Fleet Database. It has so far committed to only three 787-10s, the first two of which will be delivered in 1H2019.
The airline has announced its first 787-10 will initially operate on the Tokyo Narita-Singapore route from 26-Apr-2019. It stated the second 787-10 will operate on the Tokyo Narita-Bangkok route from 1-Jul-2019.
ANA currently has two daily flights from Narita to Singapore along with two daily flights from Haneda to Singapore. The flight that has been earmarked for ANA's first 787-10, NH801/NH802, is currently temporarily being operated by 777-300ERs but is scheduled to revert back to 787-9s on 8-Feb-2019.
The Japanese carrier generally uses 215-seat 787-9s to Singapore but some of its flights are operated with 246-seat 787-9s and 169-seat 787-8s. All these configurations include a premium economy cabin and a large lie flat business class cabin, reflecting the strong premium demand for Singapore (not all of ANA's 787s have a premium economy or lie flat seats in business).
The 215-seat 787-9 is the lowest density of ANA's 787-9 configurations and features 48 lie flat business seats, 21 premium economy seats and 146 economy seats. The 246-seat 787-9 includes 40 lie flat business, 14 premium economy and 192 economy seats. The 169-seat 787-8 consists of 46 lie flat business seats, 21 premium economy seats and 102 economy seats.
ANA is configuring its 787-10 with 294 seats, featuring 38 lie flat business class seats, 21 premium economy seats and 235 economy seats. Therefore, ANA will be adding 89 one-way economy class seats to Singapore per day based on the 215-seat 787-9 while reducing business class capacity slightly and maintaining premium economy. Total economy class capacity to Singapore will increase by around 15%.
The airline currently has two daily flights from Narita to Bangkok and three daily flights from Haneda to Bangkok. The flight earmarked for the 787-10, NH805/806 is currently operated with 240-seat two class 787-8s but will be operated from late Mar-2019 with 245-seat three class 787-9s. ANA now uses 787-9s on its other Narita-Bangkok flight and all three of its Haneda-Bangkok flights but will substitute a 787-8 on one of the Haneda flights from late March as the 787-9 replaces a 787-8 on the Narita flight.
ANA often (but not always) uses the 245-seat 787-9 configuration for Bangkok and uses the high density 240-seat 787-8 configuration, reflecting the fact there is less premium demand for Bangkok than Singapore. The 240-seat 787-8 configuration features 42 recliner style business class seats and 198 economy seats.
The switch to the 787-10 therefore results in a smaller increase in economy capacity (and overall capacity) for Bangkok than Singapore. For the overall Bangkok-Tokyo market, there will be an economy capacity increase of approximately 5%.
Bangkok and Singapore are by far ANA's largest destinations in Southeast Asia. ANA currently has nine destinations in Southeast Asia, six of which have been launched since 2010.
CHART - ANA's weekly one-way frequencies from Japan to Southeast Asia have grown significantly since Sep-2011Source: CAPA - Centre for Aviation and OAG
At the beginning of this decade, its only destinations in Southeast Asia were Bangkok, Singapore and Ho Chi Minh. It has added significant capacity to these three destinations while launching Hanoi, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Phnom Penh and Yangon. ANA currently has 158 weekly flights to Southeast Asia compared to only 63 seven years ago (in Feb-2012).
Southeast Asia also has become a strategic market for ANA with minority investments in Vietnam Airlines and Philippine Airlines. ANA Holdings completed the purchase of an 8.6% stake in the Vietnam Airlines in 2016 and recently announced plans to purchase a 9.5% stake in PAL Holdings.
See related report: ANA invests in Philippine Airlines as PAL expands