Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA) has formally confirmed it will introduce a sixth route to Europe this winter with the launch of a new service between Tokyo Narita and Brussels, the only non-stop service from Japan to Belgium. The expansion supports the carrier’s strategy to expand its international route network and enhance the airline’s brand awareness in Europe.

Our blog, Airline Route, first revealed details of the new route on June 28, 2015 when ANA first loaded schedules for the long-haul link in the GDS (see ‘ANA Outlines Proposed Brussels Schedule for late-Oct 2015 Launch’). The flight will be operated on a daily schedule using a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner from October 25, 2015.

“As a major economic, commercial and political centre Brussels is an increasingly important market for us. More and more passengers are flying between Tokyo and Brussels but they currently have to do so by transiting through other cities. By becoming the only Japanese airline to offer direct flights to the city, ANA will dramatically improve access for passengers to and from Japan,” said Osamu Shinobe, president and chief executive officer, ANA.

Although this will be the only non-stop flight between Japan and Belgium, more than 85,000 passengers a year are flying between the two countries, a figure that has been on the rise in each of the last four years. When you consider the ground leakage from Belgium to neighbouring countries already connected directly to Japan, the market becomes more sizeable.

The current traffic flows between Japan and Belgium are dominated by Lufthansa via Frankfurt and Munich, but there are also sizeable flows with Finnair via Helsinki and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines via Amsterdam. ANA currently holds a 10.5 per cent share of this O&D traffic via its existing European links and local airline partners.

ANA plans to leverage these partnerships with fellow Star Alliance members at Brussels Airport by offering onward connections from the Belgium capital on the flights of Brussels Airlines and its joint venture partners Lufthansa, Swiss International Airlines and Austrian Airlines.

This will be ANA’s third new destination in Europe this decade and follows the introduction of flights between Tokyo and Munich in July 2010 and Tokyo and Dusseldorf in March 2014. These added to the carrier’s long-standing links from the Japanese capital to Frankfurt, London Heathrow and Paris CDG. These were all markets served from Tokyo Narita, but the opening of international slots at Haneda Airport, more conveniently located for downtown Tokyo has seen the Frankfurt, London and Munich routes switch facilities.

It is understood that to facilitate the new link, ANA will close its existing flight between Tokyo Narita and Paris CDG at the end of the summer 2015 schedules. This route has been operating alongside a new service to the Parisian hub from Tokyo Haneda since March 2014.

Our analysis of Sabre Airport Data Intelligence demand statistics highlights the prominent carriers in the market between Europe and Japan since the start of the decade. More than 5.4 million bi-directional passengers a year are flying in this market with a growth of 12.7 per cent since 2010, according to the data. The recent European growth from ANA has seen it overtake Lufthansa as the second biggest carrier in this market, based on annual segment demand.