ANA awarded Anti-Trust Immunity for Joint Venture with
Lufthansa on Japan-Europe routes
-Announcement heralds the world's first Joint Venture on Japan-Europe routes-

TOKYO, June 1, 2011 - ANA, Japan’s largest airline, and Deutsche Lufthansa AG, Europe’s leading airline, are announcing that they are launching a strategic joint venture with each other on Japan-Europe routes after ANA receiving Anti-Trust Immunity (ATI) approval from the Japanese Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport. This latest agreement between the two Star Alliance members follows the launch of a similar joint venture between ANA and United Airlines on trans-Pacific routes in April.

The joint venture with Lufthansa will improve the level of service offered to passengers by allowing ANA and Lufthansa to work together on schedule coordination and joint product sales. Customers will benefit from seamless transfers and better connections. The two carriers aim to introduce the new joint venture within the 2011 winter timetable.

Shinichiro Ito, ANA President and CEO, said: "I'm delighted that we have received official approval to operate the only joint venture on Japan-Europe routes. This agreement will further improve the level of service we offer to passengers and boost our company's international competitiveness."

Christoph Franz, Chairman of the Executive Board & Chief Executive Officer Deutsche Lufthansa AG, said: “This approval marks a great step forward for our customers. Optimised flight schedules will better enable them in future to plan their trips between Japan and Europe. We look forward to this opportunity to consolidate our cooperation with ANA, which signifies a further milestone that will bring the two economic areas closer together. After the tragic earthquake, the go-ahead for our joint venture is a sign that Japan is looking to the future.”
 
Media Contact:
ANA Public Relations:
Ryosei Nomura and Megumi Tezuka, TEL +81-3-6735-1111
Deutsche Lufthansa AG:
- Frank Puettmann, Head of Corporate Communications Asia-Pacific, Phone: +65 6835 5951
- Boris Ogursky, Manager Media Relations, Phone: +49 69 696 96006
 
About ANA
Established in 1952, ANA Group is a leading Japanese provider of air transport services, carrying almost 50 million passengers every year to 49 destinations in Japan and 28 cities throughout Asia, Europe and the US on its fleet of 228 aircraft. It is the world’s 10th largest airline by passenger load, according to IATA rankings, and is the largest domestic carrier in Japan. ANA has won awards in all categories for its products and services and was voted Airline of the Year for 2007 by Air Transport World Magazines. ANA is the launch customer of Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Mitsubishi Regional Jet. The airline joined the Star Alliance in 1999 and celebrated a decade of Alliance membership in October, 2009.
 
About Lufthansa
Deutsche Lufthansa AG is an Aviation Group comprising around 400 subsidiaries and affiliates. The Lufthansa Group is dedicated to quality and innovation, safety and reliability. Headquartered in Germany, the Group operates in five business segments - passenger transportation, logistics, MRO, catering and IT services. Passenger transportation is the Group’s core business: The airlines engaged in the passenger transportation business are Lufthansa (including Lufthansa Regional and Lufthansa Italia) Austrian Airlines, bmi, SWISS and Germanwings as well as stakeholding in Brussels Airlines, JetBlue und SunExpress. In the 2010 business year, the airlines in the Lufthansa Group welcomed more than 91 million passengers on board their flights, making it Europe’s leading airline grouping. Operating through the Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna, London-Heathrow, Brussels and Zurich hubs, Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, bmi, Brussels Airlines and SWISS jointly serve 283 destinations in 105 countries on four continents. The Group fleet currently consists of more than 710 aircraft - on order are another 190, valued at a total of 18 billion euro at list price and scheduled for delivery between 2010 and 2016. With its ongoing expenditure in fleet renewal, the Group is consistently making the fleet more cost-efficient and its operations more environment-friendly. End of 2010 the Lufthansa Group employed around 117,000 people. In the 2010 business year, it returned revenues totaling 27.3 billion euros. More details at www.lufthansa.com.
 
 
ANA awarded Anti-Trust Immunity for Joint Venture with Lufthansa on Japan-Europe routes