All Nippon Airways

Boeing 747s were introduced on the Tokyo-Sapporo and Tokyo-Fukuoka routes in 1976 and Boeing 767s in 1983 on Shikoku routes. The carrier's first 747s were the short-range SR variant, designed for Japanese domestic routes.

International era

In 1986, ANA began to expand beyond Japan's key domestic carrier to become a competitive international carrier as well, breaking Japan Airlines' monopoly as the sole Japanese flag carrier like many other countries in Asia. On 3 March 1986, ANA started scheduled international flights with a passenger service from Tokyo to Guam. Flights to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., followed by year's end, and ANA also entered a service agreement with American Airlines to feed the US carrier's new flights to Narita.

ANA expanded its international services gradually: to Beijing, Dalian, Hong Kong and Sydney in 1987; to Seoul in 1988; to London and Saipan in 1989; to Paris in 1990 and to New York and Singapore in 1991. Airbus equipment such as the A320 and A321 was added to the fleet in the early 1990s, as was the Boeing 747-400 jet. ANA joined the Star Alliance in October 1999.

In February 2001, to promote the opening of Universal Studios Japan, ANA unveiled the Woody Woodpecker-themed Woody Jet, using the Boeing 767-300, for its domestic flights.

2004 saw ANA's profits exceed JAL's for the first time. That year, facing a surplus of slots due to the construction of new airports and the ongoing expansion of Tokyo International Airport, ANA announced a fleet renewal plan that would replace some of its large aircraft with a greater number of smaller aircraft.

Also in 2004, ANA set up low-cost subsidiary Air Next to operate flights from Fukuoka Airport starting in 2005, and became the majority shareholder in Nakanihon Airline Service (NAL). In 2005, ANA renamed NAL to Air Central, and relocated its headquarters to Nigoya Airport. On 12 July 2005, ANA reached a deal with NYK to sell its 27.6% share in Nippon Cargo Airlines, a joint venture formed between the two companies in 1987. The sale allowed ANA to focus on developing its own cargo division. In 2006, ANA, Japan Post, Nippon Express, and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines founded ANA & JP Express (AJV), which would operate freighters. ANA is the top shareholder of AJV. It absorbed Air Japan's freighter operations.

Air Transport World named ANA its 2007 "Airline of the Year". In 2006, the airline was recognized by FlightOnTime.info as the most punctual scheduled airline between London and Tokyo for the last four consecutive years, based on official British statistics. Japan Airlines took over the title in 2007. In 2009, ANA announced plans to test an idea as part of the airline's "e-flight" campaign, encouraging passengers on select flights to visit the airport restroom before they board. On 10 November of the same year, ANA also announced "Inspiration of JAPAN", ANA's newest international flight concept, with redesigned cabins initially launched on its 777-300ER aircraft.

In July 2011, All Nippon Airways and AirAsia agreed to form a low-cost carrier, called AirAsia Japan, based at Tokyo's Narita International Airport. ANA held 51 percent shares and AirAsia held 33 percent voting shares and 16 percent non-voting shares through its wholly owned subsidiary, AA International. The carrier lasted until October 2013, when AirAsia withdrew from the joint venture; the carrier was subsequently rebranded as Vanilla Air.

In March 2018, All Nippon Airways announced the integration of its two low-cost carrier subsidiaries Peach Aviation and Vanilla Air into one entity retaining the Peach name; the integration was completed in October 2019.

On 29 January 2019, ANA Holdings purchased a 9.5% stake in PAL Holdings, Philippine Airlines' parent company, for US$95 million. Following PAL's bankruptcy and restructuring in 2021, ANA's stake was reduced to 4.11 percent by May 2023.

Joint ventures

All Nippon Airways have entered into joint ventures with the following airline partners:

Fleet

Current fleet

As of July 2026, All Nippon Airways operates the following aircraft:

Fleet development

On 31 July 2014, ANA firmed up orders for 7 Airbus A320neos, 23 Airbus A321neos, 20 Boeing 777-9s, 14 Boeing 787-9s and 6 Boeing 777-300ERs, to be used for its short and long-haul fleet renewal. Boeing valued ANA's order at approximately $13 billion at list prices.

On 2 February 2015, ANA placed orders with Airbus and Boeing worth $2.2bn for three Boeing 787-10s, five Boeing 737-800s and seven Airbus A321s. In late July 2015, ANA entered into a secret agreement with Airbus to make additional orders in the future (number and model(s) of aircraft unidentified) in exchange for Airbus support of ANA plans to invest in bankrupt Skymark Airlines.

Also in 2015, ANA placed orders for the since cancelled 15 Mitsubishi Regional Jets for regional flights, which were to be operated by ANA Wings.

On 29 January 2016, ANA signed a purchase agreement with Airbus, covering firm orders for three Airbus A380s, for delivery from fiscal 2018 to operate on the Tokyo (Narita) to Honolulu route.

On 11 July 2022, ANA converted two of its 777-9 orders into the freighter variant 777-8F.

Boeing 787

ANA was the launch customer for the new Boeing widebody, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, ordering 50 examples with an option for 50 more in April 2004. ANA split the order between 30 of the short-range 787-3 and 20 of the long-haul 787-8. However, ANA later converted its −3 orders to the −8 variant.

Deliveries finally began in late 2011 when ANA received its first Boeing 787 on 21 September, the first-ever Dreamliner to be delivered in the world. ANA flew its first Boeing 787 passenger flight on 26 October 2011, which operated as a charter flight from Tokyo Narita to Hong Kong. ANA also became the second airline to receive the Boeing 787-9 on 28 July 2014. Despite being second, the airline preceded launch customer Air New Zealand for the first commercial flight on the 787-9, a special sightseeing charter for Japanese and American school children on 4 August.

Historic fleet

The NAMC YS-11 was an important aircraft for All Nippon Airways, although most of them were used under the name of ANK, or Air Nippon, a subsidiary of All Nippon Airways. The final YS-11 in operation was retired in 2006. Some YS-11s are in museums, or otherwise scrapped or taken apart. After a final retirement process through September 2006, all YS-11s were grounded, and obligated to retire, unless privately owned and were privately restored. The YS-11 was a big part of All Nippon Airways from the 1970s to the early 1990s when it was used on domestic operations.

ANA flew its last flight of an Airbus A321-100 on 29 February 2008. This marked the end of almost ten years of operation of the Airbus A321-100, of which ANA was the only Japanese operator.

All Nippon Airways had historically operated the following aircraft:

Services

New cabin

Introduced in 2009, the "Inspiration of Japan" cabin features included fully-lie-flat-bed business class seats, nearly enclosed first class suite seats, fixed shell back seats in both of its economy classes, a new AVOD in-flight entertainment system (based on Panasonic Avionics Corporation's eX2 IFE system with iPod connectivity, in-seat shopping and meal ordering as well as cabin touchscreen consoles) as well as improvements to its in-flight service. ANA will introduced a new lounge (which opened on 20 February 2010, supposed to be in coincidence with the introduction of new aircraft interiors but delayed) and check-in concept (later in autumn 2010) at Narita for first class and ANA Mileage Club's Diamond Service elite members.

The introduction of the concept also discontinued the use of the name "Club ANA", which was used for its international business class seats (changing into a generic business class name) as well as the name of the lounges (all lounges for both first class and business class are named "ANA Lounge", with the first class lounge called the "ANA Suite Lounge" and its arrival lounge the "ANA Arrival Lounge").

This "Inspiration of Japan" concept was originally set to debut on 20 February 2010 with the delivery of its new Boeing 777-300ER prior to that date, followed by the introduction of the concept on that date on the Narita-New York route. However, due to delays to the new premium economy seats, the debut was pushed back to 19 April. (The delay was due to the failure of a safety test in Japan of a new seat design axle, made by seat manufacturer Koito Industries Ltd. This safety test failure also affected deliveries of aircraft to be operated by three other fellow Star Alliance members – Singapore Airlines for its A380s, Thai Airways' A330s, and Continental Airlines for new 737-800 deliveries.)

The "Inspiration of Japan" concept has been refitted on its existing 777-300ERs for service on all the airline's North American routes, and may be refitted on its European routes. Parts of it may eventually be phased into its existing Boeing 767-300ERs in service as well as the upcoming Boeing 787s in order.

Since February 2010, ANA offers women's-only lavatories on international flights. The first Boeing 787 the airline received have the bidets in both economy and business class lavatory.

Inflight magazine

ANA's inflight magazine is named Wingspan and is available both on board and as a freely downloadable application for Apple's iPad. The iPad version is named Virtual Airport and includes content from Wingspan as well as links to airline booking and online check-in pages.

Bus shuttle services

Previously, ANA had a dedicated shuttle bus from Düsseldorf to Frankfurt Airport so passengers may board ANA flights at that airport, but the bus service was discontinued after ANA began its dedicated Düsseldorf flights in 2014.

On 10 May 1963, DC-3 JA5040 crashed at Sendai.

On 5 June 1963, DC-3 JA5027 swerved off the runway on takeoff at Osaka-Itami Airport and struck the rear of a second DC-3 (JA5078); JA5078 was written off while JA5027 was repaired with parts from DC-3 JA5039.

On 14 February 1965, DC-3 JA5080 struck Mount Nakanoone at 2,200 m (7,200 ft), killing both pilots; the wreckage was located on 29 December 1966.

On 4 February 1966, Flight 60, operated by Boeing 727 JA8302, was on approach to Tokyo Haneda Airport when it crashed into Tokyo Bay for reasons unknown, killing all 133 passengers and crew. Following this accident, all passenger aircraft operating in Japan were required to be equipped with cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders.

On 13 November 1966, Flight 533 operated by a NAMC YS-11, crashed in the Seto Inland Sea off Matsuyama following an unexplained loss of altitude while attempting to go-around, killing all 50 on board.

On 30 July 1971, Flight 58, operated by a Boeing 727-200 (JA8329), collided with JASDF F-86F Sabre 92-7932 that was on a training flight; the right wing of the F-86 struck the left horizontal stabilizer of the 727 and both aircraft crashed out of control, killing all 162 on board the 727; the F-86 pilot ejected and survived.

On 22 June 1995 a man calling himself "Fumio Kujimi" and registered with ANA as "Saburo Kobayashi" hijacked Flight 857, a Boeing 747SR, after it took off from Tokyo. The aircraft landed in Hokkaidō where it was stormed by police, arresting the hijacker. Police stated that the hijacker was 53-year-old Fujio Kutsumi; he had demanded the release of Shoko Asahara. The hijacking incident lasted 16 hours.

On 23 July 1999, a man hijacked Flight 61 and killed the captain. He was subdued by other crew members, and no passengers or other crew were killed or injured.

On 13 March 2007, ANA flight 1603 departed Itami Airport to Kochi Airport, where the Bombardier DHC-8-402 landed without its nose landing gear, causing damage to the nose. None of the 60 passengers and crew on board were injured. The failure for the landing gear to extend was determined to be from the landing gear doors not opening due to missing parts.

On 6 September 2011, Flight 140, operated by a 737-700 traveling from Naha to Tokyo with 117 passengers and crew, banked over 90 degrees in mid-air and rapidly descended as the first officer inadvertently rotated the rudder trim switch instead of the door unlock button as the captain returned from the lavatory. The first officer eventually regained control and leveled the aircraft. There were minor injuries to two flight attendants.

On 16 January 2013, Flight 692, a Boeing 787-8 flying from Yamaguchi Ube Airport to Tokyo Haneda Airport reported a battery problem while climbing to FL330. The pilots made an emergency landing at Takamatsu Airport. Four minor injuries were reported during the evacuation via the emergency slides. However, after this incident, all 787s were subsequently grounded by aviation authorities until the battery issue was resolved.

On 13 January 2024, Flight 1182, a Boeing 737-800 traveling from Sapporo to Toyama reported a crack in the cockpit window while passing over the city of Hakodate in Hokkaido. It landed back at Sapporo's New Chitose Airport at 12:10 local time (03:10 GMT) with no fatalities or injuries.

On 24 May 2025, Flight 114, operated by a Boeing 787-9, a passenger tried to open the emergency door while the plane was traveling from Tokyo to Houston. Passengers and crew members restrained the passenger, and the plane made an emergency landing at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport at 4:19am local time.