All Nippon Airways will introduce its first batch of “Inflight Service Assistants” on international routes, starting with the twice daily flights between Tokyo Narita and Taipei on May 18.
Wearing blue uniforms that will set them apart from cabin attendants who wear black, they will mainly provide language interpretation and make announcements in Chinese. One Inflight Service Assistant will be assigned to each flight.
Taiwan was chosen as the first route for this assistance since it usually experiences a high number of non-Japanese passengers and lacks Chinese-speaking flight attendants.
Korea, Thailand and Vietnam are possible destinations for future Inflight Service Assistants.
Joshua Tan