All Nippon Airways to Start Flights to Delhi

In a move to expand its network in Asia, All Nippon Airways (ANA) will start offering flights to India, connecting to Delhi. The service will kick off from October 28 and bookings will be available from July 12.

One of the largest airlines in Japan, All Nippon Airways (ANA) is all set to expand its network in India. The airline will start operating flights to India, connecting to the capital city of Delhi from October 28, 2012.

Currently, ANA only operates flights to Mumbai as far as its Indian network is concerned.

The airline says the expansion in the Indian market is part of a wider scheme to get footing in Asian markets, which, the airline believes, still has a lot of scope for growth. All Nippon Airways carried 43 million passengers last year and is the ninth largest airline in the world by revenues.

“By expanding its route network in the growing Asian market, ANA aims to capitalize on the projected increase in demand for indirect flights between Asia and North America via Japan. This will allow ANA to accelerate the expansion of its international network, which is a key pillar of its FY2012-13 Corporate strategy, and further strengthen ANA’s business model as a network carrier,” the airline said in a statement that was published in media reports.

The Japanese carrier will open bookings for the flight from July 12. It will be plying a 767-300 ER aircraft on the route. A report in Economic Times, India’s leading financial daily, says that the ANA initially tried to launch operations on the Dreamliner but for reasons unknown it could not do so.

A new service on the route is likely to work in favour of corporate and holiday travellers who look for cheap flights to India as with more options available the probability of netting cheap ticket deals rises.