ANA Discontinues AirJapan Brand, Reports Record-Breaking Revenue

All Nippon Airways (ANA) announced on October 30, 2025, that it will end operations under the AirJapan brand as part of a strategic rebranding initiative.

Although AirJapan will maintain its air operator certificate within the ANA Group, its functions will be absorbed by the mainline ANA services.

AirJapan was introduced in 2022 as a hybrid, cost-oriented airline aimed primarily at attracting tourists from Asia to Japan. This establishment was partly in response to Japan Airlines’ (JAL) launch of Zipair Tokyo in 2020, which had a similar focus.

As of October 30, 2025, AirJapan operates a small fleet consisting of two Boeing 787-8 aircraft, servicing routes from Tokyo-Narita to Seoul-Incheon (ICN), Bangkok (BKK), and Singapore (SIN). These routes are set to be phased out by March 29, 2026.

Peach, another budget airline within the ANA Group that exclusively operates an all-Airbus narrowbody fleet, will continue its operations without alterations.

The decision to retire the AirJapan brand has been attributed to the difficulties posed by current global market challenges. Notably, ANA’s announcement cited factors such as the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, delays in aircraft deliveries, and extended downtime for the B787 aircraft.

Interestingly, this brand restructuring comes amidst ANA reporting record financial performance for the first half of its 2025/26 fiscal year.

For this period, ANA achieved an impressive operating revenue of 1.19 trillion yen (approximately $7.9 billion), with an operating profit of 97.6 billion yen (around US$634 million).

International travel, both into and out of Japan, has been crucial to ANA’s financial success. The airline has expanded its global network with new routes to Milan Malpensa (MXP), Stockholm (ARN), and Istanbul (IST).

On the domestic front, however, the market remains challenging. While there has been an uptick in domestic passenger numbers due to pricing incentives, ANA faces ongoing profitability issues as business travel has yet to reach pre-pandemic levels.

The group has also upgraded its full-year operating profit forecast to 200 billion yen (US$1.3 billion), buoyed by strong inbound tourism to Japan and the integration of Nippon Cargo Airlines. This acquisition was completed in August 2025, with Nippon Cargo Airlines boasting a fleet of eight B747-8 freighters.

Are you interested to see how these changes impact ANA’s future operations?