ANA from NRT to BRU as from winter season 2015

[sn26567]

Is ANA planning daily 787-9 services or daily 787-8 services?

The timetable says 787-8. But it appears that on some days a 787-9 has been scheduled, which shows the success of the route, and it's not impossible that in the future the timetable becomes fully 787-9.

A large airline like ANA has of course the flexibility to adapt the aircraft type on an almost daily basis, which means that if on a given day there are too many passengers they could even schedule a 777.

[BRUpilot]

Thanks for the answer, André!

[sn26567]

ANA Plans Limited Boeing 787-9 Brussels Service in Nov 2015

ANA in this week’s schedule update has updated planned Boeing 787-9 International service, which sees the Dreamliner variant operating on selected flights to Brussels in Nov 2015. Planned Boeing 787-9 operational dates, instead of -8, as follow.

Tokyo Narita – Brussels 04NOV15 / 06NOV15

Source: Airline Route

[Inquirer]

That's a very short time span, in fact.
Any particular reason for that you can think of?

[Flanker2]

Good bookings on those days?
Is it going to be the R2-D2 jet by any chance?

[RoMax]

One of the anna.aero daily news letters of the World Routes meeting in Durban last weekend and early this week, has the title "Brussels' ANA service already outperforms expectations". Leon Verhallen (Head of Airline Marketing at BRU) comments on it that so far bookings have been good and ANA is happy with the demand it has seen so far. Due to high demand they upgraded some flights already (as mentioned above).

A bit off topic here, but he also mentions the 'hope' for new long haul services to be added as SN is looking at a 9th A330. BRU is also really aiming for flights to Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore.

[brusselsairlinesfan]

Godd news for this long expected route!
Still no possibility for SN to codeshare with ANA between BRU & NRT?

[Atlantis]

A bit off topic here, but he also mentions the 'hope' for new long haul services to be added as SN is looking at a 9th A330. BRU is also really aiming for flights to Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore.

That's why Singapore Airlines is again in the picture because they would like to start up again the route
SIN-BRU

[Stij]

To remain a bit of topic... sorry... and this from a moderator...

In one of the other articles on anna.aero from Durban, Sao Paolo is reported wanting a connection to Brussels...

Cheers,

Stij

[Flanker2]

Well, Flanker says for years that BRU-TYO is going to work, urges SN to start the route. NH launches and is positively surprised. Flanker says for years that North America isn't going to make a lot of money except DEN. SN does it anyway, barely makes any money, wastes resources.
Flanker says once again that SN really needs to stop looking West (except DEN) and start looking East (forget SIN, or PVG, but definitely Hong Kong).

[Passenger]

Arrival of the first ANA 787 flight at BRU:

http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/economie/1.2478688

(outgoing NH232 to Tokyo is scheduled for 20h50 tonight)

[DannyVDB]

Hi all,

More news about codesharing. ANA will put its flight number on following European flights from Brussels Airlines (source: airline route)

Brussels – Barcelona
Brussels – Basel
Brussels – Berlin Tegel
Brussels – Billund
Brussels – Birmingham
Brussels – Bologna
Brussels – Copenhagen
Brussels – Edinburgh
Brussels – Geneva
Brussels – Gothenburg
Brussels – Hamburg
Brussels – Hanover
Brussels – Lisbon
Brussels – London Heathrow
Brussels – Lyon
Brussels – Madrid
Brussels – Malaga
Brussels – Manchester
Brussels – Milan Malpensa
Brussels – Nice
Brussels – Oslo
Brussels – Prague
Brussels – Rome
Brussels – Stockholm Bromma
Brussels – Tel Aviv
Brussels – Turin
Brussels – Venice
Brussels – Vienna
Brussels – Warsaw

[B737229]

Good bookings on those days?
Is it going to be the R2-D2 jet by any chance?

Yes R2 D2 jet confirmed for 4 and 6 Nov for bru!

http://www.ana-sw.com/sp/jets/

[brusselsairlinesfan]

This nonstop daily BRU-NRT flight is a very good step in the BRU "rebirth"! The only bad thing is that SN cannot put its code on the NH operated BRU-NRT flight (and beyond in Japan/Asia)!!! Any news on that matter?

[Flanker2]

NH did a marvelous job on the inaugural flight out of BRU.
The ribon-cutting ceremony was great, with a celebration cake served to the pax and journalists, together with plenty of sandwiches and drinks. A bag with special inaugural goodies (ANA towel and commemorative lanyard) was also given at the gate by very beautiful (non-boarding) cabin crews.
The CEO of ANA holdings welcomed every single pax at the gate and took pictures on demand, which I found very humbling, as you don't see many CEO's doing that nowadays. The CEO also took the time to talk with pax during the ceremony.
On board, the friendly cabin crew gave away special goods and worked tirelessly to pamper the passengers with special attentions. The toilets were kept very clean throughout the entire flight.
I noticed that several of the cabin crew in Y even worked through the entire flight with little to no rest, with a very friendly attitude and smiles all over the place.

During the press conference, the NH CEO said that a codeshare with Brussels Airlines was very high on the priorities list.

This was my first recent NH experience and the 3-3-3 B788 seating was acceptable but I was seated in the emergency exit row, so I delay my final judgement for now. The seat width didn't bother me much though.
It won't beat JL's amazing Y product Sky Suite which deserves recognition.
However, know that if you are Platinum status holder with NH, they upgrade you to Y+ after boarding if seats are available.
The food on board was excellent, a bit less in quality but a bit better on quantity, thus on par with Japan Airlines, but the IFE was slightly better (but JL have also improved theirs recently).
For the drinkers, wines were served from the 75cl bottle with a Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon presented to the pax before serving, nice touch.

The aircraft was very clean, I couldn't find any dust anywhere I looked. There was a lot of NH operational staff all over the place to ensure a timely departure despite the festivities.

At this point I think that we can say that both NH and JL are top notch airlines and that it only boils down to price and convenience. NH has a leg up on the BRU-TYO market now with this direct flight and I have no doubt that it will do great.

I didn't think that they could win me over, but ANA really did everything right on this flight. I couldn't find anything wrong to say even if I wanted to.
This is a true compliment if you consider how big of a critic I am when it comes down to airline service.

[travellover]

Thanks for your very comprehensive description lived from inside.

[chineseboy]

@flanker

Great report! Do you have any pics of that day?
How was the load on the outbound flight? Did you notice more western passangers or Japanese passengers?

Thanks!
Ps, do you live nearby wijnegem?

[Flanker2]

I do have some pictures but I'm quite busy now, so I'll post them at a later time. I I think that there was someone from Luchtzak there to take pictures too and there were also journalists on board.
The load was about 90% in Y and Y+, in J I can't say exactly but definitely more than 75%.

[Flanker2]

The press conference, first Arnaud Feist, then the CEO of ANA Holdings, Mr. Katanozaka:

The cake-cutting ceremony


The cake was delicious, if anyone can give me the name of the bakery that made it, it would be superb...



A piece of the celebration cake and some sandwiches.



Ribon cutting. A young lady was chosen among the pax to join the ribon cutting.
Miss Nippon 2015 was also on stage, along with two gorgeous cabin crew ladies.


The load in the Y section. It was about 70/30 Japanese/non-Japanese pax, mostly families and leisure but also several business pax.


Shrimp curry rice, soba noodles, salad, Neuhaus chocolate and...


...a delicious sorbet


Second meal


Hitting the Japanese shoreline.

[Flanker2]

How is NH doing on this route?

JL has suspended their CDG-NRT flights, citing a 60% drop in traffic to Paris following the terrorist attacks, with no improvement in sight.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/1 ... nLPL0rhDIV

JAL suspending Paris-Narita flights after terrorist attacks hurt demand
DEC 16, 2015
ARTICLE HISTORY
Japan Airlines will suspend flights between Paris and Narita International Airport next month after business slumped in the wake of the deadly Nov. 13 attacks in the French capital.

JAL currently operates one round trip a day between Paris and Narita.

Many group tours using the JAL route were canceled after the terror attacks, and the seat occupancy rate fell to about 40 percent from some 80 percent as a result.

The carrier believes that demand will not recover any time soon.

“The airline will suspend flights between Paris and Narita from Jan. 12 through Feb. 29 except for several days,” a spokesman said. “(We) will decide whether to resume the Paris-Narita flights in March after observing the situation next year,” he said.

The flights for which reservations for large group tours were made will go ahead as scheduled.

JAL will concentrate on flights between Paris and Tokyo’s Haneda airport, which have a higher occupancy than the Narita flights at about 60 percent on average, the spokesman said.

The carrier runs one round-trip flight a day between Haneda and Paris.

I think that the attacks have contributed, but I think that NH's direct route to BRU also takes a lot of traffic away from JL.

I was booked on a ZYR-CDG-NRT itinerary in February and received a call from them to rebook me.
I'm afraid that they will lose what's left of the BRU-TYO traffic as the remaining option is a very inconvenient 5 hour lay-over between the TGV and the HND flight.
I decided to avoid this option and asked to be rebooked on a flight via LHR.