Air Nippon Co., Ltd. (エアーニッポン株式会社) was a regional airline based in the Shiodome City Center complex in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of All Nippon Airways (ANA). Its main base was Tokyo International Airport.

Code data

In April 2004, Air Nippon adopted ANA flight codes and numbers for all domestic services.

History

The company was founded by ANA, Japan Airlines and TOA Domestic as Nippon Kinkyori Airways (日本近距離航空) in March 1974 and started operations on 10 October 1974. The name Air Nippon was adopted in 1987, and the abbreviation ANK comes from the full, somewhat redundant name Air Nippon Kabushiki kaisha (lit. Air Nippon joint stock corporation.). It had 12 Boeing 737-200 aircraft. ANA and Air Nippon used different liveries and IATA codes on domestic flights until April 2004, when Air Nippon adopted ANA livery and ANA flight numbers. As an ANA subsidiary, it is considered a full Star Alliance member. However, on Republic of China flights before April 2008, Air Nippon's IATA code EL was still used due to political reasons and these flights are not considered being Star Alliance flights. In 1998 the airline was headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. In 2002 Air Nippon was headquartered on the 5th floor of the Utility Center Building (ユーティリティセンタービル) by Tokyo International Airport in Ōta. Shiodome City Center, which became headquarters of Air Nippon and parent company ANA, opened in 2003. The airline employed 1,686 staff (at March 2007). On 1 October 2010, Air Nippon Network was merged into ANA Wings. On 1 April 2012, Air Nippon was merged to All Nippon Airways.

Destinations

Fleet

The Air Nippon fleet consisted of the following aircraft throughout operations: