a group of airplanes flying over water

ANA Starting Hawaii A380 Service May 24, 2019

New A380 operators come every once in a blue moon nowadays. ANA has three A380 frames on order and will be the next new operator of the aircraft. Their first plane entered the Airbus paint shop today.

The aircraft is set to fly from Japan to Hawaii 3x a week starting on May 24, 2019 with service on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The service will increase 10x weekly as of July 1, 2019 when the second A380 enters service.

The aircraft will feature four cabins with five different seating options spread out in the following configuration:

Cabin Number of Seats
First 8
Business 56
Premium Economy 73
Economy 383
Total 520

a diagram of a plane

The 5th seating style comes in the form of what ANA is calling Couchii, a concept similar to what Air New Zealand calls the Sky Couch and what Joon calls Cosy Joon.  These seats feature an extendable leg rests that convert the seats into a “bed”. Couchii passengers will also receive a dedicated bed sheet, pillow and blanket set amenities. 

All passengers will have access to some form of onboard bar and the plane will also feature a “multi-purpose room where new mothers will be able to tend to their babies and passengers will be able to change before arriving at their destination.”

First Class

The first class suites look like a modernized version of the existing ANA suite found aboard all 777 products aircraft which are essentially composed of a lay-z-boy in a cubicle and will feature a massive 32″ personal TV. The suites will also include sliding doors. 

a computer cubicle with a few monitors

Business class

All business class seats will offer direct aisle access, are fully flat and feature 18″ Entertainment screens

a row of seats with a table and a shelf

Premium Economy

All premium economy seats will feature a 38″ pitch and most seats will have a 15.6″ entertainment screen. The tray tables will also swivel 90 degrees so customers can still maneuver even when the tray table is open.

Image result for ana a380 premium economy

Economy

All seats will feature 34″ pitch and 13.3″ entertainment monitors. Each seat comes with power and USB outlets as well. Couchii seats will only have 32″ of pitch.

Image result for ana a380 economy

Hawaii Service Upgrades

On top of the new plane, ANA has plans for a special A380 lounge at Honolulu airport featuring separate entrances for premium passengers that connect directly to the upper deck of the aircraft, which will bypass the terminal completely. Other special features include a unique turtle livery for all 3 aircraft, referred to as Honu, and customized food and beverage in each cabin.

ANA has noted that First Class passengers will be dining on food from Michelin Start Restaurant,  Noe at the Four Seasons Resort Oahu.  Economy Class passengers will not be left behind on the gastronomic delights as they have a menu designed by Australian Celebrity Chef Bill Granger, famous for his amazing ricotta pancakes. All passengers will also have an “exclusive blue Hawaii cocktail” too.

Amenity Kits are on the specialty item list as well with business class kits designed by Fred Segal and First class amenity kits from Globe Trotter, which is an English luggage manufacturer.

a group of luggage with a blindfold and a mask

The flights aren’t currently available for sale yet, but were already looking forward to trying the new service. If you wanted to use United miles to redeem for free flights on this route expect to pay between 27,500 miles for a one-way economy award up to 55,000 miles for a first class award. Virgin Atlantic frequent flyer program is always a sweet spot for flights on ANA and looks like this route should only cost 90,000 miles for a first class round trip ticket.

Are you planning on flying the new ANA A380 Hawaii service?

Source: ANA