Better access to rural Japan from Singapore under SIA-ANA tie-up

Travellers can expect shorter layovers, better-value fares on trips to places off beaten track

- Walter Sim

TOKYO - Travellers flying into Japan from Singapore will soon enjoy better access to off-the-beaten-track destinations across the archipelago.

This comes as Singapore Airlines (SIA) signed a joint venture agreement with Japan's largest carrier, All Nippon Airways (ANA), on April 17 in a deal that has been more than five years in the making, with plans first announced in January 2020.

Both airlines will pool their resources to achieve more efficient route planning, as they coordinate flight schedules, seat capacity and fares for flights between Singapore and Japan. ANA services 61 domestic airports in Japan, from Nemuro-Nakashibetsu in north-eastern Hokkaido to Ishigaki in south-western Okinawa.

SIA and ANA will sell "joint-fare tickets" under a revenue-sharing arrangement. What this means for travellers is shorter layovers and better-value fares, given that flights from both airlines can be combined in a single itinerary.

These tickets will go on sale from May, with the first flights under the joint venture to take off in September.

"When you operate medium-haul flights (using) wide-body planes, it is not commercially viable for us to operate to all the smaller airports in Japan (given the thinner traffic)," SIA chief executive Goh Choon Phong told The Straits Times on the sidelines of a media conference at the ANA Blue Base facility in Tokyo.

"Partnering with a pre-eminent carrier like ANA makes sense, because our customers can seamlessly connect to all these destinations," he added.