ANA is set to place an order for three Airbus A380 superjumbos, according to a report by the Nikkei Asian Review.
Although ANA has yet to officially confirm the order, the Nikkei said that the aircraft would be delivered in 2018, on routes “to Hawaii and elsewhere”.
If true the order will be a boost to Airbus and its A380 programme, which has struggled to secure new orders for the superjumbo in recent years.
The manufacturer currently has around 320 firm orders for the aircraft, with nearly half of these placed by Gulf carrier Emirates.
The move would make ANA the first Japanese airline to fly the A380 - fellow Japanese carrier Skymark Airlines had previously ordered six A380 superjumbos, but this agreement was cancelled in 2014, prior to the carrier filing for bankruptcy in early 2015.
ANA has since agreed to take a minority holding in Skymark, and the low-cost carrier continues to operates flights from its hub at Tokyo’s Haneda airport.
Mark Caswell
