The Challenger ANA — The Birth of All Nippon Airways

So far, we have watched Japan Airlines, as the national flag carrier, spread its wings to international routes and carry its glory on jumbo jets. But the skies did not belong to a single company. Another wing was quietly, yet persistently, chasing that radiant figure from behind. It would later become one of two giants and grow into the largest airline in the country — All Nippon Airways, or ANA. Its starting point was a tiny company, far removed from the prestige of a national flag carrier. In this chapter, we trace how a latecomer challenger built its foothold in the skies.

From Small Wings — The Departure of Japan Helicopter Transport

ANA’s story begins in the same postwar resumption of aviation that gave birth to the national flag carrier. In 1952, when the aviation activities of Japanese citizens, banned under the occupation, were finally permitted again, people who dreamed of the skies founded a number of companies. One of them was Japan Helicopter Transport.

As its name suggests, this company could not fly large passenger aircraft from the start. Its origins are said to lie in the efforts of people trying to rescue aviation workers who had lost their jobs after the war. Those who had been involved in aviation since before the war pooled their passion for the skies and their personal networks, and sought to rebuild, first through a small helicopter business. In contrast to Japan Airlines, which enjoyed the backing of the state as the national flag carrier, this was a company raised by the hands of private citizens, rising from an almost unknown starting point.

In time, the business expanded from helicopters to scheduled routes flown by fixed-wing aircraft. Around the same time, another company, Far East Airlines, which had started up separately, was also trying to extend its routes across the nation’s skies. For latecomers short on capital and recognition, the skies of the postwar recovery era were by no means a forgiving stage. Even so, they accumulated routes connecting major cities and regional areas one flight at a time, demonstrating their worth by carrying people and goods. Not the glamorous international routes, but domestic routes as a means of everyday life — that was precisely where the challengers found their path forward.

Two Companies Become One — The Founding of All Nippon Airways

For a latecomer to catch up to the national flag carrier, it needed to gather its strength into one. In 1958, two companies — Japan Helicopter Transport and Far East Airlines — merged, and All Nippon Airways is said to have been founded. By bringing together the routes, aircraft, and personnel each had possessed, it finally began to acquire the strength to speak of the skies on a nationwide scale.

After the merger, ANA settled into the domestic market. Trunk routes connecting major cities and regional cities, and local routes extending to smaller towns. Weaving these routes into a fine net became the company’s lifeline. Against Japan Airlines, which basked in the spotlight on the grand stage of international routes, ANA steadily flew within the Japanese archipelago and blended into people’s daily lives.

The hardships of being a latecomer were by no means small. Compared with Japan Airlines, which had already gained state support and the prestige of international routes, ANA long lagged behind in both recognition and capital. Even so, by fulfilling its role one by one — landing at regional airports and serving as the means of transport for local communities — ANA built up genuine trust. Solidity over flash. Achievement over signboards. The challenger chose the path of building up from the ground. And it was precisely this emphasis on domestic routes that would later determine ANA’s position within the regulatory framework, and become the foundation that supported its subsequent leap forward.

Riding the Wave of Jet Conversion — The Road to Becoming a Giant

For a small postwar company to grow into what would be called one of two giants, seizing the wave of technology was essential. In the 1960s, the world’s skies switched rapidly from propeller aircraft to jets. To fall behind in the era of jets, which could carry more passengers faster, meant nothing less than dropping out of the competition.

ANA, too, took on this wave. In 1964, it introduced the Boeing 727 as its first jet aircraft and is said to have put it into service on routes such as the one connecting Tokyo and Sapporo. In time, it deployed jets on major routes such as Tokyo-Osaka, advancing the full-scale jet conversion of domestic routes. The speed and carrying capacity that propeller aircraft could not match breathed new competitiveness into ANA’s route network. In the midst of high economic growth, the number of people using the skies for business trips and travel was rising rapidly, and the vessel to absorb that demand was being prepared by jet aircraft.

In this way, ANA steadily expanded its scale on the home ground of domestic routes, drawing ever closer to a presence spoken of alongside Japan Airlines. International JAL, domestic ANA — while carrying clearly distinct characters, the two companies entered into a relationship of sharing the same skies. A latecomer challenger, rising to stand shoulder to shoulder with the national flag carrier as one of two giants. That journey was not the story of one given a signboard, but the story of one who built its foothold step by step.

The company that began with the small wings of a helicopter built up its strength through merger, rode the wave of jet conversion, and solidified its position as the leader of domestic routes. In the skies, two wings of different character came to stand side by side: Japan Airlines, connecting Japan to the world on international routes, and ANA, linking the archipelago on domestic routes. But the era in which the two companies competed freely did not last long. Eventually, the state would try to draw a line dividing the two. Next time, we move on to the story of the era when regulation determined the shape of Japan’s skies — the so-called 45/47 system.