Japanese carrier, All Nippon Airways (ANA) is to further expand its activities across the Oceania region with the resumption of flights into Australia. The Star Alliance member will introduce a new non-stop connection between Tokyo Haneda and Sydney from December 2015, the fourth new international route for the carrier this year following the introduction of direct services to Houston in June 12, and the forthcoming new links to Kuala Lumpur (starting September 1) and Brussels (from October 25).

It is over 16 years since ANA last served the Australian market, but this will be the first time it has linked the country to Tokyo Haneda, where it has a significant network presence and will complement point-to-point demand with connection options to 42 domestic routes, as well as flights to North America, Europe and Asia.

ANA first introduced flights to Australia in October 1987 with an initial weekly service between Tokyo Narita and Sydney using a Boeing 747. This route was served up until June 1998, although the carrier’s presence in Australia lasted until April 1999 through routes to Brisbane and between Osaka Kansai and Sydney, which were launched in October 1994.

The new Sydney route will be operated by a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner configured in a 215-seat, three-class arrangement with space for 48 Business Class, 21 Premium Economy and 146 Economy passengers. The route will take full advantage of the convenience and comfort of Haneda with flights to Sydney departing Haneda late at night, and return flights arriving at Haneda early in the morning, maximising connection opportunities.

“We are thrilled to be expanding our footprint in Oceania and offering our passengers additional options and convenient connections through Haneda Airport. Our most comfortable seating and the optimized in-cabin humidity and air pressure of Boeing’s 787-9 Dreamliner should be especially good news for overnight travellers,” said Osamu Shinobe, president and chief executive officer, ANA.

Increasing its focus and remit in international air travel is at the heart of ANA’s long-term business strategy, with the airline aiming to increase its international flight revenue by 50 per cent in the next ten years. Every year, more than 300,000 Japanese visit travel to Australia, an established destination for studying English as well as traditional tourism.

Visitors from Australia to Japan are also on an upward trajectory, with 302,656 visitors in 2014, an increase of 23.8 per cent from the previous year, and an additional 24.6 per cent on figures for the first five months of 2015, according to latest figures from the Japan National Tourism Organization. Japanese destinations such as Hakuba and Niseko are particularly popular among Australian winter sports lovers and will be accessible via ANA’s domestic network.

Economic ties between Japan and Australia are also strengthening, with an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between Japan and Australia formed in January this year. By flying this new route to Sydney, ANA is clearly making a commitment to making a contribution towards deeper bilateral economic and cultural ties as well as building stronger demand for flights to Japan.

The return of ANA to Australia has been welcomed by airport and destination officials in Australia, with the additional non-stop capacity from Japan important in strengthening ties between two countries. John O’Sullivan, managing director of Tourism Australia, said the decision by ANA to resume flying to Australia would deliver a big tick for tourism, trade and investment links between both countries.

“We know from our research that the Japanese rank our country second on their global travel wish list, but that a key barrier to them actually visiting in recent years has been a shortage in aviation capacity,” he said.

ANA’s new service will add close to 80,000 seats to Australia each year, which will be hugely significant in terms of boosting inbound travel from Japan. Japan is a high volume inbound market and in 2014, more than 140,000 Japanese visitors travelled to New South Wales (NSW), spending more than $300 million. Meanwhile, Japan has been Sydney’s fastest growing international destination for Australians over the past three years, so this new service will also offer more choice to Australians travelling to Japan for business and leisure.

“Sydney Airport is Australia’s international gateway and a leading airport globally for next generation aircraft, so it’s fitting that ANA will launch a new service to Sydney on its state-of-the-art Dreamliner aircraft later this year,” said Kerrie Mather, managing director and chief executive officer, Sydney Airport.

“This new service will boost tourism and visitor expenditure in Sydney and NSW, as it’s expected to bring more than 35,000 new Japanese visitors to Sydney and an estimated $77 million in incremental visitor expenditure to NSW,” she added.

Next month Australian flag carrier, Qantas Airways will commence its own daily link between Sydney and Tokyo Haneda as it switches its existing flight to Narita International Airport to the increasingly popular Haneda. Meanwhile, Japan Airlines continues to offer a daily schedule between Tokyo Narita and Sydney.

Our analysis of Sabre Airport Data Intelligence demand statistics highlights the annual demand on the Tokyo – Sydney city pair, which has seen increasing demand in each of the past two years, with bi-directional O&D demand levels between 2012 and 2014 mirroring the previous three year period between 2009 and 2011. Last year an estimated 278,000 passengers flew on the city pair, the second highest level over the past ten years, with a notable rise in connection demand via Haneda.

Looking more closely at last year’s annual O&D demand between Sydney and the wider Japanese market shows that while Tokyo dominates as a point-to-point market with a 76.0 per cent share of the total demand, there are also sizeable passenger flows between the Australian city and Fukuoka, Nagoya, Osaka and Sapporo.