OREANDA-NEWS. December 16, 2011. ANA and Air New Zealand will establish a closer partnership in Japan from March 25 next year providing travellers on both airlines with improved access to destinations in Japan and New Zealand.

Mr Shinichiro Ito, President and CEO of ANA and Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe signed a Memorandum of Understanding at a Star Alliance CEO meeting in Addis Ababa yesterday to develop the partnership covering areas such as code share and ground handling services in Japan.

The partnership will give Air New Zealand passengers easy access beyond the gateways of Tokyo (Narita) and Osaka (Kansai).  ANA operates more than 700 flights a day to 48 domestic destinations. ANA customers will have access to destinations in New Zealand and the Australian region beyond the gateway of Auckland.

The partnership will also open up Japan as a corridor for New Zealanders travelling to Europe and other Asian destinations. ANA flies to the four European cities of London, Paris, Munich and Frankfurt as well as a range of Asian destinations including China, India, and Korea.

ANA's Executive Vice President of Alliance, Keisuke Okada, said, “This partnership will add more value to our network, which will now include New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Islands as a choice for our customers. ANA is also willing to promote New Zealand as a leisure destination within the Japanese market and we look forward to working together to continue to grow Japanese outbound passenger numbers to New Zealand.”

Air New Zealand's Group General Manager International Airline, Christopher Luxon, said, “While Japan has been a very important destination for us for three decades, this new relationship will help further extend our reach both within Japan and to points beyond.  We have a clear strategy to develop strong alliances to support our core business and this new ANA code share is a good example of putting that strategy into action.”

Air New Zealand will move its Narita airport base to Terminal 1 South from March 25th, placing it alongside other Star Alliance carriers and giving customers access to excellent terminal facilities including a modern lounge operated by ANA and smooth transit to connecting flights operated by ANA and other Star Alliance partners.

The code share arrangement between ANA and Air New Zealand is subject to regulatory approval. Air New Zealand's flight frequencies will remain the same. When the new code share launches in March next year, the airline is scheduled to operate five times a week to Tokyo and three times per week to Osaka.