International flights to and from Japan, which were greatly affected by the new Corona, have finally begun to resume. JAL’s 2021 international passenger numbers were announced to be 892,471, while ANA’s number was 825,524, the first time in seven years that it has overtaken ANA to take the lead.
JAL leads international flights for the first time in 7 years
International flights to and from Japan, which were greatly affected by the new coronavirus, have finally begun to resume. Looking at the number of routes and flights, the situation is far from what it used to be. However, it has changed a lot in the last two years. One of them is that the number of passengers of All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL) has reversed.
JAL announced that the number of international passengers in 2021 was 892,471. On the other hand, ANA has 825,524 people. It is the first time in seven years that JAL has overtaken ANA to take the lead since 2014.
In fact, it is not only international flights that JAL has reversed ANA in terms of passenger numbers. For domestic flights, JAL will have regarding 16.24 million and ANA will have regarding 15.23 million in 2021. ANA was at the top until 2019, but JAL reversed in 2020.
For the past two years or so, a rare situation called Korona-ka has occurred in recent years. The aviation industry is also forced to manage hard to survive. Under such circumstances, why did the number of passengers of both companies reverse?
Speaking of flagship carriers, ANA and JAL
In Japan, there are two flagship carriers (major airlines), ANA and JAL. Overseas,
United Kingdom: British Airways
France: Air France
Australia: Qantas
Thailand: Thai Airways International
There are many patterns of “one company in one country”. There are currently two companies in South Korea next door, but it has been decided that Korean Air will soon absorb Asiana Airlines.
JAL has long reigned at the top of Japan on both international and domestic flights. However, JAL applied for the Corporate Rehabilitation Law on January 19, 2010, and the business went bankrupt. Taking this opportunity, JAL was restricted from opening new routes.
On the other hand, ANA has expanded its route network one following another on international flights due to the re-internationalization of Haneda Airport. ANA’s regular international flights were opened in 1986 (Showa 61), and its history is not so old. In 2015, ANA reversed JAL in terms of the number of international passengers. We have been keeping the top position until 2020.
