Opening of the fourth runway at Tokyo Haneda in late 2009 will present ANA with new growth opportunities but also increased challenges, including the arrival of low-fare airlines, President and CEO Mineo Yamamoto said."We think we will see LCCs in Haneda in 2009," he told journalists in Tokyo last Thursday at an event organized by Star Alliance. Speaking through a translator, he noted that current plans call for the number of operational slots at the airport to increase by 40% vis-a-vis the current level to 407,000 annually.

ANA accepts that it will lose some travelers to budget carriers but intends to maintain focus on higher-yield passengers. However, this may not be possible. "What we are most afraid of," Yamamoto explained, is that Japan Airlines "will follow the strategy of LCCs like Skymark and enter the low-fare quagmire." He said ANA is studying launching a domestic low-fare airline, although it appeared from his remarks that this more likely would be a countermeasure.

The carrier also is concerned that Tiger Airways or another Southeast Asian LCC will be given slots at Haneda to operate discount flights in Asia. ANA is evaluating using Air Japan, its leisure/holiday airline, to counter this threat. In this case, it would look at opening a base in Bangkok or Singapore staffed with foreign cockpit and cabin crews.

In spite of the concern over LCCs, Yamamoto told ATWOnline that ANA is asking the Japanese government to double the number of new slots dedicated to international operations at Haneda from 30,000 to 60,000 annually. Currently, very few international operations are permitted at the airport. He would like to see it opened to short-haul international destinations that will support direct service and mentioned Shanghai as one example. He agreed that splitting operations between two airports is not the best solution but noted that Narita operations average load factors of "over 80%."

Yamamoto observed that 2006 marks the 20th year of international service for ANA and confirmed that the airline lost money on the routes for most of this period. It is focused on routes with strong business demand and rules out primarily leisure destinations. China represents its strongest international market, while it is pursuing a "partner hub" strategy on long-haul services--for example, flying into Frankfurt where Star ally Lufthansa offers both feed and connections.