All Nippon Airways

Formation

ANA's earliest ancestor was Japan Helicopter and Aeroplane Transports Company (日本ヘリコプター輸送, Nippon Herikoputā Yusō) (also known as Nippon Helicopter and Aeroplane), an airline company founded on 27 December 1952. Nippon Helicopter was the source of what would later be ANA's International Air Transport Association (IATA) airline code, NH.

NH began helicopter services in February 1953. On 15 December 1953, it operated its first cargo flight between Osaka and Tokyo using a de Havilland Dove, JA5008. This was the first scheduled flight flown by a Japanese pilot in postwar Japan. Passenger service on the same route began on 1 February 1954, and was upgraded to a de Havilland Heron in March. In 1955, Douglas DC-3s began flying for NH as well, by which time the airline's route network extended from northern Kyūshū to Sapporo. In December 1957 Nippon Helicopter changed its name to All Nippon Airways Company.

ANA's other ancestor was Far East Airlines (極東航空, Kyokutō Kōkū). Although it was founded on 26 December 1952, one day before Nippon Helicopter, it did not begin operations until 20 January 1954, when it began night cargo runs between Osaka and Tokyo, also using a de Havilland Dove. It adopted the DC-3 in early 1957, by which point its route network extended through southern Japan from Tokyo to Kagoshima.

Far East Airlines merged with the newly named All Nippon Airways in March 1958. The combined companies had a total market capitalization of 600 million yen, and became Japan's largest private airline as Japan Airlines was government-owned. The merged airline received a new Japanese name (全日本空輸; Zen Nippon Kūyu; All Japan Air Transport). The new united airline ran a route network that was amalgamated from its two predecessors, and the company logo of the larger NH was chosen to serve as its logo.

Domestic era

ANA grew through the 1960s, adding the Vickers Viscount to the fleet in 1960 and the Fokker F27 in 1961. October 1961 marked ANA's debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as well as the Osaka Securities Exchange. 1963 saw another merger, with Fujita Airlines, raising the company's capital to 4.65 billion yen. In 1965 ANA introduced its first jet, the Boeing 727 trijet, on the Tokyo-Sapporo route. Prior to this, the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau denied an import license for ANA's 727s unless Japan Airlines (JAL) acquired their own fleet of 727s. ANA also introduced Japan's first homegrown turboprop airliner, the NAMC YS-11 in 1965, replacing Convair 440s on local routes. In 1969, ANA introduced Boeing 737 services.

As ANA grew, it started to contract travel companies across Japan to handle ground services in each region. Many of these companies received shares in ANA as part of their deals. Some of these relationships continue today in different forms: for instance, Nagoya Railroad, which handled ANA's operations in the Chūbu region along with other partnerships, maintains a permanent seat on ANA's board of directors. By 1974, ANA had Japan's largest domestic airline network.

While ANA's domestic operations grew, the Ministry of Transport had granted government-owned JAL a monopoly on international scheduled flights that lasted until 1986. ANA was allowed to operate international charter flights: its first was a Boeing 727 charter from Tokyo to Hong Kong on 21 February 1971.

ANA bought its first widebody aircraft, six Lockheed L-1011s, in November 1971, following a lengthy sales effort by Lockheed which had involved negotiations between US president Richard Nixon, Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka and UK prime minister Edward Heath (lobbying in favor of engine maker Rolls-Royce). Tanaka also pressed Japanese regulators to permit ANA to operate on Asia routes as part of the package. The aircraft entered service on the Tokyo-Okinawa route in 1974. The carrier had ordered McDonnell Douglas DC-10s but cancelled the order at the last minute and switched to Lockheed. It was later revealed that Lockheed had indirectly bribed Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka to force this switch: the scandal led to the arrest of Tanaka and several managers from ANA and Lockheed sales agent Marubeni for corruption.

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.