To celebrate 20 years of flying to China, and 35 years of friendly relations between China and Japan, ANA has decorated a 767-300 in a panda motif to delight passengers in North East Asia.

Fly! Panda, as the aircraft was dubbed in a naming-competition held among elementary school children across Japan, lifted off on July 25 from Tokyo's Narita Airport, headed for Beijing, at 10:35 under the flight number NH905. For the next two years it will be a regular visitor to mainly Beijing and Hong Kong, in addition to Guangzhou, with flights to other cities on mainland China as well.

"With its eye-catching exterior and panda themed interior, meals and cabin crew uniforms, we hope to capture the imagination of customers flying to China and make them as excited as we are about flying to our next door neighbour - especially the younger ones as we move into the summer holiday season," said Shinichiro Ito, ANA's executive vice president, marketing and sales. "We are proud of our 20 year history of linking the peoples of our two countries and look forward to next year's Beijing Olympics as a high point in travel between Japan and China. We imagine seats on Fly! Panda will be in big demand."

The Fly! Panda livery was designed by Takayuki Soeda, of Soeda Design Seikakusho in Tokyo, and was applied to the aircraft from July 13-23, taking a total of 350 people 80 hours to complete.

Fly! Panda is unique in ANA's fleet, and comprises 267 seats divided into business and economy classes. To complete the picture, a panda motif adorns cabin crew uniforms, cups, snack wrappers, napkins, headrest covers and pillows. Dishes served in both classes feature a signature 'panda' desserts, with a panda designed choux a la creme with custard cream and vanilla beans being served in Economy class.

ANA introduced its first special livery aircraft into its fleet in 1993 with the whale-themed 'Marine Jumbo'. Since then it has been delighting passengers and onlookers alike with various decorated aircraft, including the ever-popular Pokemon jet.

Photograph 1: Fly! Panda 767-300.

Photograph 2: Economy class meal.

Photograph 3: Panda choux a la creme.

Photograph 4: Headrest covers.