ANA reveals A380 cabin products

Japanese carrier and Star Alliance member ANA has today revealed plans for its brand new Airbus A380 aircraft, which will enter service exclusively between Japan and Hawaii from spring 2019.

The new planes

ANA have just three of these ‘superjumbos’ on order, which will be the smallest A380 fleet in the world once they are in service (China Southern Airlines currently operate the smallest A380 fleet totalling five aircraft).

Each aircraft, dubbed the ‘FLYING HONUs’, will feature a unique colour scheme in blue, emerald green or orange, as ANA explain.

“ANA has created a character from each aircraft. The blue character is named “Lani,” meaning sky, while the emerald green character is named “Kai,” meaning ocean, and the orange character is named “Ka La,” from the Hawaiian word meaning sunset.”

Today in a press statement ANA confirmed the aircraft will be fitted with 520 seats in total, comprising:

• 8 First Class Suites
• 56 Business Class Seats
• 73 Premium Economy Seats
• 383 Economy Seats

That’s the densest configuration yet among A380 operators worldwide, with the exception of the Emirates 2-class A380 which seat a whopping 615 passengers.

Here’s how the seat map looks:

Wi-Fi will be available through the Panasonic Avionics system, though no pricing details have been made available at this stage.

The cabin will also be decorated in “the spirit of Hawaii” with lighting and wall decorations designed with this atmosphere in mind.

ANA never wanted these planes

In reality of course ANA almost certainly never actually wanted the A380 and were tied into ordering three as part of winning the bid to restructure Skymark Airlines who had ordered six. ANA effectively had to win the bid to access valuable slots at Tokyo’s Haneda airport. This CAPA article summarises the situation quite thoroughly.

The seats

Here’s a video ANA have published of the new seats, courtesy of @flightliner.japan on Facebook:

First Class

ANA have released some images of the seats they will be installing on the new aircraft, starting with the small two-row first class cabin totalling 8 suites with:

• Closing doors
• 32″ IFE screen
• A personal linen closet
• Power socket and USB outlets

Business Class

The business class cabin occupies the mid section of the upper deck with 56 flat-bed seats in a staggered 1-2-1 configuration with solo seats by the window – then couple seats and individual seats at alternate middle rows, not unlike the new Singapore Airlines 2018 regional business class we recently reviewed.

The seat features include:

• Direct aisle access
• 18″ touchscreen IFE system
• Power socket and two USB ports

Premium Economy

The premium economy cabin is in the rear section of the upper deck in a 2-3-2 configuration

Here you’ll find:

• 38″ seat pitch
• 15.6″ touchscreen IFE system
• Headrest and leg rest adjustable in six dimensions
• Adjustable reading light
• Power socket and USB port

Economy Class

In economy, which occupies the entire main deck of the aircraft in a 3-4-3 layout, you’ll find the relatively standard ANA economy seat offering:

• 34″ seat pitch
• 13.3″ touchscreen IFE system
• Headrest and leg rest adjustable in six dimensions
• Power socket and USB port

At the very back the last 7 rows have economy seats with a reduced 32″ pitch but which can be converted to ‘couch seats’ a bit like the Air New Zealand Economy Skycouch™. The ANA versions will be called ‘ANACouchii’.

Here’s what ANA says about it:

“Each couch is comprised of three or four seats and passengers are able to lie on the seats by folding up the leg rests. In addition, passengers will receive a dedicated mattress that will provide them with further comfort. This new seat concept will especially enable passengers traveling with small children to have a more relaxed experience in the cabin.”

And here’s how it will look:

Redemption options

Here are the miles redemption options we expect you will be able to take advantage of once flight timetables for these new flights are loaded later this year.

ANA redemption Singapore-Honolulu via Tokyo Narita
FFP used	Economy	Business	First
	55,000	97,500	135,000
	30,000*	50,000*	90,000*
	30,000	52,000	85,000
	35,000	65,000	80,000
	30,000	51,000	75,000
	55,000	97,500	145,000

* ANA Mileage Club requires all redemption flights to be return journeys, the mileage shown here is half the total for a return trip for proper comparison with other FFPs, but there is no option to actually book one-way under ANA Mileage Club.

As you can see the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Star Alliance award comes out pretty poorly in comparison to some other frequent flyer programs, especially Lifemiles, Miles & More and MileagePlus.

A large business class cabin of 56 seats in particular bodes well for good redemption availability on these planes.

A new lounge

These new services will also be greeted with a new ANA lounge at Honolulu airport.

Summary

Once these aircraft are in service ANA could well become the Star Alliance airline of choice for Singapore-based frequent flyers heading to Hawaii – assuming it’s not already!

We expect regular timings from a fleet of three planes should allow for seamless connections at Narita from the two daily Boeing 787 services departing Singapore – ANA will certainly want that to be the case to drive connecting traffic from around Asia to help fill these huge planes.

The ANA Singapore to Narita 787 flights already feature very comfortable 1-2-1 flat-bed seats in business class – so overall it would be a nice way to reach Hawaii whether you connect into the First Class or Business Class cabin on the A380 for the remainder of your journey.

It’s been a while since we visited Hawaii, but this news certainly has us considering another trip next year!

(Cover Image: ANA Holdings Inc)