All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s largest and only 5-Star airline, announced details of it’s new Economy, Premium Economy, Business Class and First Class cabins on Japan’s first Airbus A380, launching in spring 2019.
This aircraft will be introduced on ANA’s Tokyo to Honolulu service, and each cabin is specially designed to meet the passenger’s needs on this route. Honolulu is loved by many Japanese families, couples, newlyweds, and Hawaii is a popular destination for their vacations and honeymoons. With this in mind, ANA aims to make their experience onboard more comfortable by strategically designing the cabin features in order to meet their unique needs while providing them with a once in a lifetime experience.
The three A380 Aircraft will be delivered with three different designs of the special livery motif FLYING HONU. At the time, the design ANA introduced was blue, a homage to the Hawaiian blue sky. Today, ANA is pleased to announce two more colours, green and orange. The emerald green is inspired by the crystal clear waters of the Hawaiian ocean and orange is a reference to the beautiful Hawaiian sunset.
In order to make this triad, the FLYING HONUs, more familiar to everyone, ANA has created a character from each aircraft. The blue character is named “Lani,” meaning sky, while the emerald green character is named “Kai,” meaning ocean, and the orange character is named “Ka La,” from the Hawaiian word meaning sunset.
Top Deck: Layout & Seats
In order to provide the perfect trip, ANA has designed each cabin to accommodate a host of needs for passengers of all ages. On the upper deck, there will be eight First Class seats at the front, 56 Business Class seats in the middle, and 73 Premium Economy seats at the back.
First Class Review
This is the first time ANA has offered First Class on this resort route. The seats will be installed in a 1-2-1 configuration, with a new design. Each seat features its own door and provides passengers with the privacy they need to enjoy their personal space. There will also be a 32-inch TV a small cupboard and offer a stylish new look.
The charcoal black of the First Class cabin is one of the most stylish I’ve seen, and the inclusion of a sliding door is new to ANA and not something available on other ANA planes making this First Class offering ultra special.
Business Class Review
ANA’s Business Class is a popular option for passengers on honeymoons and family vacations. Therefore, compared to other aircraft where seats are staggered, this revolutionary Business Class offers pairs of seats in the middle as the set-up is in a 1-2-1 layout, allowing passengers to enjoy and share their exciting travel experience sitting next to each other while still keeping all seats with aisle access.
Each seat offers direct aisle access, an 18-inch TV, as well as relatively amenities like a power socket and USB ports.
The only problem with this design is that if you were travelling to Hawaii on Business and flying on one of these planes, you would want to avoid the pairs of middle seats as they are awfully close to each other so you may be stuck rather close to your neighbour. These middle seats are definitely the worst on the plane if you are travelling alone.
In my opinion, the best seats on the plane are the windows with direct aisle access. I do love to be near my partner and my son when travelling, but who doesn’t like to look straight out of the window? (Answer: All 3 of us, so for us, the best seats on the plane would be 3x single window seats one behind the other.
This Business Class cabin is very solid with a nice flatbed seat with direct aisle access. What more could you want?
While Premium Economy on other ANA aircraft has about 20 seats, the FLYING HONUs offer 73, allowing more passengers the opportunity to experience the premium features. These seats are laid out in a 2-3-2 configuration, with 38 inches of seat pitch with a leg rest. The entertainment screens measure 15.6 inches (except the first row, which gets a 11.6-inch screen).
Main Deck: Layout & Seats
The main deck will have 383 Economy Class seats, in a 3-4-3 configuration. Each seat will have a 13.3-inch IFE screen, a 6-way adjustable headrest, as well as individual USB ports and power outlets. The seats have a generous (for coach!) seat pitch of 34 inches.
The back rows of the lower deck will be (60) couch seats. This makes ANA the first in Japan to introduce a couch seat concept. Each couch is comprised of three or four seats and passengers are able to lie on the seats by folding up the leg rests. In addition, passengers will receive a dedicated mattress that will make them pretty comfortable. This new seat concept will especially enable passengers travelling with small children to have a more relaxed experience in the cabin.
Of course, this means that the families with kids will congregate at the back of the lower deck, so it if you want a peaceful flight, and don’t have children, this area is probably best avoided, in favour of being further towards the front.
Cabin Interiors
The cabin interiors have also been strategically designed in order for the passengers to feel the spirit of Hawaii from the moment they board the aircraft. The walls and lights have been arranged in such a way as to illustrate Hawaii’s enviable blue skies, sunrises, sunsets, night skies and iconic rainbows.
All classes will have access to bar counters. Lastly, behind the main deck, ANA has created a multi-purpose room where new mothers will be able to tend to their babies and passengers will be able to change before arriving at their destination.
New Airport Lounge
Along with the new aircraft, comes a brand new ANA Airport Lounge at Honolulu Airport. Honolulu airport is lacking in decent lounges so this new lounge will be a haven for passengers before they travel home.
Conclusion
ANA’s A380 will fly exclusively between Japan for Hawaii for now, and the pitch and general cabin ambience and design means that a flight on this A380 should be pretty enjoyable, particularly as it is only about 7 hours in length. I particularly like the brand new First Class seats, but this flight should be hugely enjoyable in all classes. And at the end of the flight… you land in beautiful Hawaii!
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