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ANA 787-10 prepares for service with premium economy focus
April 12th 2019
Routes from Tokyo Narita to Bangkok and Singapore will connect to North America flights. Partner United Airlines is introducing premium economy. Read More »
All Nippon Airways (ANA) this month will place into service its largest international aircraft, the 787-10. ANA will deploy the premium economy-heavy aircraft to Bangkok and Singapore, important local trunk routes but also large connecting markets to the ANA-United Airlines (UA) joint-venture (JV).
These are some of ANA’s longest intra-Asia flights, and the prime markets will also receive the updated interiors featured on the 787-10. The aircraft will be operated by subsidiary Air Japan.
The newest and largest variant of the 787 family will seat 294 in ANA’s configuration. ANA’s current largest in-service international aircraft is the 264-seat 777-300ER. From May, ANA will commence flights with its 520-seat A380, although the superjumbo will only fly to Honolulu.
ANA has announced two routes so far: Singapore from 26 April and Bangkok from 1 July. Both will be from Tokyo Narita. Even with forthcoming slot expansion at Tokyo Haneda, ANA and UA will have more flights at Narita than Haneda. The partners aim to use Haneda as more of a local traffic hub given the airport’s downtown location while international connecting traffic will mostly transit in Narita.
The Singapore and Bangkok flights flagged for the 787-10 are ideally timed in both directions for connecting North American traffic.
Low-cost airlines fly from Bangkok and Singapore to Tokyo Narita. Japan Airlines medium/long-haul LCC Zip Air will have Bangkok and Seoul be its initial destinations. ANA’s 787-10 has a 22% increase in economy seats (235) compared to ANA’s typical 787-9 (192 seats).
Business class on the 787-10 is approximately the same at 38 seats compared to 40 on the 787-9. Retaining a similar business cabin size meant using the 787-10's longer fuselage by adding economy seats, which are easier to sell.
Premium economy has long been on ANA flights, but UA this year is rolling out a dedicated premium economy long-haul product. The partners will be able to jointly sell the class on local and connecting itineraries.
ANA’s international 787s mostly have two rows of premium economy while some have three rows or none at all. The 787-10 will have three rows of premium economy, the same as ANA’s long-haul 777 fleet.
There are only three 787-10s on order at ANA. They will largely replace 246-seat 787-9s, but ANA has -9s in other configurations, and sometimes uses 787-8s on the Bangkok and Singapore routes.
ANA is the first Asian airline to operate all three variants of the 787. United Airlines was the first airline globally to operate all three while Singapore Airlines was the launch operator.
