ANA Will Fly A380s To Honolulu From May 2019

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ANA has announced that it will finally launch A380 service between Tokyo and Honolulu in May 2019 and will become the first (and probably only) airline to operate its A380 aircraft fleet purely on a leisure route.

From 24 May 2019 ANA will offer a thrice weekly A380 service between Tokyo Narita and Honolulu and that frequency will quickly rise to 10x/week in June 2019 after the airline takes delivery of its second (of three) A380s.

ANA currently offers two daily flights between Narita and Honolulu (and a third from Haneda) so presumably it will be those two flights that see the ANA A380s making their first appearance.

NH184 NRT 20:20 – 08:40 HNL
NH182 NRT 21:35 – 09:55 HNL

NH183 HNL 11:30 – 15:00+1 day NRT
NH181 HNL 12:30 – 16:00+1 day NRT

The new ANA A380 aircraft will offer a 4-cabin layout and will house a total of 520 passengers across its 2 decks:

Within those 520 seats are….

8 First Class suites

• Seats featuring a door to provide passengers with their own private space
• 32-inch touch-panel LCD widescreen monitor
• Large table
• Meal lights as well as reading lights on all seats
• Plenty of stowage space including a closet for jackets and several compartments for smaller items
• PC power port and USB port

56 Business Class Seats

• Lie-flat seats all with direct access to the aisle
• Pair seats (some are center seats adjacent to each other while others are positioned either side of the aisles)
• 18-inch touch-panel LCD widescreen monitor
• Large table and large side table
• PC power port and 2 USB ports

73 Premium Economy Seats

• 38-inch seat pitch
• 15.6-inch touch-panel personal monitor, the largest available in Premium Economy (11.6 inches for first-row seats)
• Large table that swivels 90 degrees (easy aisle access)
• All seats equipped with leg and foot rests
• 6-way adjustable headrest
• Stowage space for cell phones and other small items
• PC power port and USB port

383 Economy Class Seats (including 6 rows offering the ANA Couch ii)

• Slim, lightweight, state-of-the-art seats
• Two new varieties of fabric for a brighter ambience
• 34-inch seat pitch (32 inches for ANA COUCH ii)
• 13.3-inch touch-panel personal monitor, the largest available in Economy Class (11.6 inches for first-row seats)
• 6-way adjustable headrest
• PC power port and USB port

Cabin Thoughts

The 34″ of seat pitch (legroom) in Economy Class is fantastic and should make the flight a lot more pleasant for travelers on the main deck.

The ANA Couch ii looks like a nice idea for a long flight (Air New Zealand offers a similar product on some of its aircraft) but it will be interesting to see how these price up. Will they be worth the expense or will premium Economy offer a better overall deal?

Passengers will need to be careful when selecting seats in the Business Class cabin as some seats will be preferable to others.

• Solo travelers should book the single seats closest to the windows (found in alternating rows starting with the frontmost row) as these are the most private.
• Couples who wish to be in close contact with each other throughout the flight should book the center two seats (found in alternating rows starting with the frontmost row) – these seats are closest to each other and have the least amount of furniture between them.

The aircraft may only offer 8 First Class suites but these will have sliding doors making them just about as private as they can be – that’s a nice touch and will be an improvement on the current ANA First Class seat.

Lounges

In preparation for A380 service ANA has built a dedicated lounge on the 3rd floor of Terminal 2 (Main Terminal) at Honolulu international airport (it’s above what is currently Gate 29 which will be renamed Gate C4).

The new lounge space will incorporate both an “ANA Suite Lounge” and an “ANA Lounge” and is scheduled to open in spring 2019 in time for the new A380 service.

ANA has said that both new spaces will offer unique features designed to allow passengers to “enjoy and relax every moment of their trip” including a dedicated jet bridge which will allow direct boarding for the A380’s upper deck premium cabin passengers.

The airline has also mentioned that numerous design aspects have been incorporated into the lounges to both evoke a feeling of Japan and to ensure passengers are as comfortable as possible. These aspects include a family area designed to be reminiscent of a tidal pool (see image 1 below) and a traditional coffered ceiling created with Hawaiian wood (image 2).

The ANA Suite Lounge (image 3) will have an “exclusive and calm atmosphere where passengers can relax” while the ANA Lounge area will “dynamically depict a design of the sea, sky, and trees symbolizing Hawaiian nature on the floor, walls, and ceilings”.

Bottom Line

The ANA looks like it’s going to be a very nice aircraft in which to fly (as long as you choose your seats carefully) and I’m especially surprised to see how much legroom Economy Class passengers are going to have.

The First Class cabin looks like it’s going to offer a pretty special experience so I’m keeping my fingers crossed for award availability to open up and for Amex to offer a high transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic (you can read more about using Virgin Atlantic miles on ANA via this link).

At 90,000 miles for a roundtrip First Class flight or 70,000 miles if you want to slum it in Business Class ( 🙂 ) the ANA A380 will be a great use of Virgin Atlantic Flying Club miles…now I just need to build up my Membership Rewards points balance so I can afford it!