Anyone who has ever flown to Japan is probably familiar with All Nippon Airways (ANA). The Japanese airline was once again one of the top five airlines in the world in 2023. J-BIG spoke to Yuji Hino, Vice President & General Manager of the German branch, and Maria Petalidou, Head of Sales & Marketing for Germany and Eastern Europe. We found out how two helicopters became a whole fleet of aircraft, what joining the Star Alliance meant and what ANA’s motto “Inspiration of JAPAN” is all about.
J-BIG: Tell us about the beginnings of All Nippon Airways in the 1950s.
Yuji Hino: It all started with two helicopters back then. All Nippon Airways was founded in 1952 and was still a very small company that started flying helicopters in 1953. This is where the abbreviation NH, which stands for “Nippon Helicopter”, still comes from on our flights today. Later, airplanes and the merger with another predecessor company, Far East Airlines, were added. From 1958, we operated under the name All Nippon Airways – initially only with domestic flights within Japan. From the 1970s, international flights, i.e. charter flights, were also added. The next big step was in 1986, when we were able to add regular international flights to our portfolio. This year marked a milestone for us, as from then on we were an airline with domestic and international flights.
The next major development came in 1999 when we became a member of the Star Alliance. We were the ninth airline to join this international alliance. By that time, we had already made a name for ourselves in Japan, but by joining Star Alliance, we gradually became better known internationally.
J-BIG: Historically, Japan Airlines was initially the main Japanese airline and you were the small, lesser-known competitor. How has this relationship developed over the years?
Yuji Hino: Yes, it is true that Japan Airlines started out as a global airline with a good reputation, while we started out as a very small company offering only domestic flights. But over the years we have improved step by step, and our employees have played a major role in this. They have strived to achieve the high standards of Japan Airlines and have continuously improved their performance. With this attitude, we were finally able to provide exceptional service. I think this is because we had a goal in mind that was worth striving for, and all of our employees stuck to it. We wanted to be as good as Japan Airlines.
J-BIG: What role did Japan’s economic development play in the development of All Nippon Airways as a company? Especially in the 70s and 80s, the period of the so-called bubble economy. People were making a lot of money in Japan and doing successful international business. Did that influence you?
Yuji Hino: Well, in the ’70s and ’80s, we were essentially a domestic airline. So our business was mainly focused on transporting our customers within Japan. In 1986, we started to operate regular international flights, and we made some mistakes in the beginning, but we learned from them. You could say that while we were making mistakes, we were growing, but that was only possible because we were making mistakes and learning from them.
In fact, the company’s development paralleled Japan’s economic development. As more money was earned in Japan and the economy opened up to international trade, ANA was able to open up to the world.
J-BIG: Let’s turn our attention to Germany. When was the first flight connection to Germany?
Yuji Hino: The first scheduled service was established in 1993 between Narita Airport in Tokyo and Frankfurt. We celebrated the 30th anniversary of this important connection in 2023. The next route was added in 2010: scheduled flights between Tokyo and Munich.
Maria Petalidou: Düsseldorf Airport was finally added in 2014.
J-BIG: Is there a particular reason why you chose Frankfurt as the first airport in Germany to offer direct flights?
Yuji Hino: Frankfurt was chosen because it is a major hub for connecting flights within Europe. From there, you can easily change planes and fly on to other European countries. When Munich was added in 2010, we were a member of the Star Alliance and the partnership with Lufthansa is one of the reasons why we chose Munich as our second hub within Germany.
J-BIG: When was the first ANA foreign branch established in Germany? With the establishment of the first scheduled flight route or later?
Maria Petalidou: About half a year before the opening of this route, in 1992. Because of the first direct connection, our branch was also established in Frankfurt.
J-BIG: What tasks does the branch office perform today?
Maria Petalidou: It houses administration, human resources, sales, marketing and customer support, and is responsible for both our consumer and corporate customers. The Frankfurt office handles all German language enquiries, both domestic and international, provided the customer speaks German. We also receive enquiries from Eastern Europe through our Frankfurt office.
Yuji Hino: We also have staff at Munich, Frankfurt and Düsseldorf airports. In total, there are 70 permanent employees in these three cities.
J-BIG: Although fortunately we don’t have to deal with the COVID problem too much anymore, the corona crisis was not long enough ago for us not to talk about it. What was the situation with flights before the corona crisis?
Yuji Hino: Before COVID, we had four flights a day, or 28 a week if you look at Germany as a whole. We were carrying about 45,000 people a month, which gave us a good turnover. Half of our revenue from flights to and from Europe came from connections between Japan and Germany. That is still the case today. If I may be a little more specific: the flight between Tokyo Haneda and Frankfurt is actually one of the the most profitable connection for ANA worldwide.
J-BIG: And what about today?
Yuji Hino: Well, the number of flights is a little less than before COVID. Where we used to have four flights a day, we now have 2.5 flights a day, so 18 flights a week. On the Munich-Tokyo route, we currently have four flights a week. From 1 July we will be flying daily again. Frankfurt is simply the most important international hub for us, so we have made every effort to restore our usual capacity there as quickly as possible.
Maria Petalidou: Our plan was to resume regular flights to Munich as soon as possible, but this has proved difficult for a long time due to the Ukraine-Russia conflict. As a result of this situation, we are currently unable to fly over Russia, and of course we are feeling the effects. As we cannot fly over Russian airspace, the flying time has increased enormously. As we are approaching Munich from the north, the flight takes much longer than before. But now, we are very happy about the announcement of having daily flights from Munich again.
J-BIG: With so many Japanese living and working in Düsseldorf, wouldn’t a return to direct flights between Tokyo and Düsseldorf be a good idea?
Yuji Hino: As you rightly say, there are a lot of Japanese people living there and from that point of view a connection to Japan would also be important. However, this is only the case for this one direct connection. In Frankfurt and Munich, more than 70 per cent of our flights are connecting flights. The number of connecting flights from Düsseldorf is much lower, which is why we are still waiting here.
Maria Petalidou: Unfortunately, we have to pool and priorise our resources at the moment. That is why we have decided to resume regular flights from Frankfurt and Munich for the time being, but this may change in the future. If we were free to decide, without any restrictions, the Dusseldorf route would already be available again. But unfortunately we have to work within the constraints that have been mentioned.
J-BIG: What about further development? Are there any services that ANA has so far only offered in Japan that may also be offered in Germany in the future?
Maria Petalidou: In Japan, there is a service where passengers can drop off their checked baggage at a SevenEleven convenience store on the day of departure or even before, and have it transported to the airport by a service provider. In Germany, we came up with the idea of offering a modified version of this service. Since we were offering evening flights from Frankfurt when we introduced this service in Japan, we wanted to give business travellers in particular the opportunity to have their checked-in baggage picked up at their office and transported to the airport. This would allow the customer to arrive later at the airport, save time and enjoy added convenience. This service was free for all Business Class customers – and our Economy Class customers could book it for a small surcharge. But, to be honest, take-up was below our expectations, so we stopped actively promoting it.
J-BIG: And what about small, possibly country-specific peculiarities? I noticed in Japan, for example, when I boarded my first domestic flight with ANA, that a cute melody was played when boarding, or more precisely when scanning a child’s boarding pass. Is this a nice service for the children that could also be introduced in Germany?
Yuji Hino: I’m glad you noticed! Actually, this melody is not for the children, but for our staff, so they can immediately see that this passenger is a child. But of course we are happy if our young passengers enjoy it too.
J-BIG: Let’s move on to international cooperation within All Nippon Airways: How does communication with headquarters take place?
Yuji Hino: Our European President, Katsuya Goto, is based in the UK and is responsible for the EMEA market. So I have less contact with the head office in Japan and more with my boss in the UK. But that doesn’t mean we only get instructions from there and can’t act independently here. Tasks are also created by us and are also pursued and processed independently in Germany. As I mentioned earlier, we have 70 employees here in Germany, six of whom are expats from Japan. The rest of the team is very international. We also have people like Maria, who has been with us for a very long time, sets her own goals and is very familiar with our processes. We have many people with exceptionally long service records. Maria, for example, has been with ANA for 23 years. So we also have decision-making authority here, which of course speeds up our local processes.
J-BIG: What role does the Japanese mentality play within ANA, but perhaps especially at ANA in Germany? In which areas of ANA Germany would you say you are still very much a Japanese company?
Maria Petalidou: Our Japanese mentality is at the heart of everything we do, and we are proud of it. For example, treating each other with respect within the team plays a central role, especially in moments when opposing opinions clash.
I also believe that we have not lost the ambition we had as a small company, the dream of flying, and have become one of the world’s leading airlines. What’s more, we don’t talk much, we get on with things. This attitude is also rooted in our Japanese philosophy.
J-BIG: I understand that for you this is everyday life and therefore normal. But what is it like for someone who has just joined your company? How would you explain to a new employee with experience of a European airline what the main differences are in a Japanese airline?
Maria Petalidou: Let’s start with the many stereotypes we encounter during interviews. Many applicants with experience of non-Japanese airlines come to us with the image that we, as a Japanese company, are particularly strict and conservative, to name just two preconceptions. But when we sit down with them and tell them that they can relax and that we are just here to have a pleasant interview, their perception changes abruptly.
Many people find that when they join us, they are quickly integrated into the team. Everyone who comes to our office for the first time feels: “there’s something different here”, “this is not a normal office”, and of course we are a bit proud of that. I think that’s one of the reasons why many of our employees have been with us for many years, even though we’ve had our share of crises and problems, just like any other company.
J-BIG: How would you describe to an outsider what “Inspiration of Japan” means?
Maria Petalidou: If you have ever flown with us, you will recognise how we leave the aircraft, or rather how our customers find it. After the passengers have disembarked, the aircraft is thoroughly cleaned, all contact surfaces are disinfected and the cushions are neatly prepared. Once this is done, two ANA employees – not from an external service provider – walk through the aircraft again and look under each seat to see if anything has been forgotten or if anything does not meet our standards of cleanliness. Every single seat is checked. Other airlines would say: “We pay so many service providers money to look under our seats, it’s too much for us to do it again”. But not us. That makes all the difference. And this is an example of what Inspiration of Japan means.
J-BIG: What is your plan for the future?
Yuji Hino: First of all, we want to offer more flights again, so we want to get back to a pre-Cold War level. Because we are an airline, we need to fly a lot. That is our business. Secondly, before COVID, we had mainly Japanese customers on board. But that has changed. Post-COVID, we have seen a significant increase in passengers from European countries such as Germany, Italy and Spain, and we want to improve our service to these customers as well. Many of the post-COVID international customers have used ANA as an airline for the first time, and we hope that they have enjoyed their first experience with us so much that they will want to use us again in the future.
Our European headquarters may be in the UK, but the centre of our business here is in Germany. So I hope that our regional staff in Germany will take pride in their work and continue to work for our airline as responsibly as ever. I hope they remember that the Frankfurt-Haneda route is our busiest in terms of revenue and how important it is to our business.
Maria Petalidou: I would like to add that we would like to introduce one of our new products to ANA on at least one route to Germany. We would like to fly a Boeing 777 to and from German airports, as this aircraft series offers our customers a state-of-the-art experience in all booking classes. This includes First Class, which is currently only available on the ANA 777. In order to bring this experience to ANA customers in Germany, we would like to have such an aircraft flying to German destinations. We are working on this for the future.
