Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA) plans to develop a mobile app aimed at reducing jet lag as part of a series of initiatives under its new ANA Travel Wellness programme.
Exact details of the app’s functionality have yet to be unveiled by the airline, though ANA has confirmed it will be developing the platform in conjunction with startup Neurospace, which creates measures to “advance the quality of sleep”. Test trials of will be carried out on ANA employees as well as passengers travelling internationally ahead of its planned launch date of April 2019.
“ANA realises that many travellers fear long flights due to potential side effects, such as jetlag, fatigue or lack of sleep,” said Yoshiaki Tsuda, vide president of the ANA Digital Design Lab.
“These negative notions deter some passengers from taking longer flights. To address these issues, ANA has been working to create the ANA Travel Wellness Initiative.”
The new programme is part of investigations into the “perceptions and determinants of jetlag among US and Japanese passengers travelling in business class” that ANA has been conducting in tandem with a research team led by professor Ichiro Kawachi, chair of the department of social and behavioural sciences at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health.
Initial initiatives under the ANA Travel Wellness programme will focus on helping passengers be at their best physical and mental states during flights, particularly athletes.
A number of airlines recently have been working towards offering services aimed specifically at combating jet lag, especially when it comes to meals offered on their longest flights.
Qantas developed special meals for its 17-hour Perth-London service, which launched in March this year, while Singapore Airlines will offer “wellness cuisine” on board its new service to New York (Newark), which at more than 18 hours will be the longest commercial flight in the world when it launches next month.
