Japanese Airline All Nippon Airways (ANA) has revealed its Airbus A380 flights to nowhere for March. The airline has been operating monthly flights to nowhere on the A380 for quite some time now, but the airline is upping its game in March with two flights at three hours long.
Flights to nowhere are nothing new. Indeed, Qantas has been operating them to the Antarctic under a charter agreement for years, previously with the Boeing 747 and more recently with the Boeing 787. However, with the current COVID-19 pandemic making international travel harder for many, the flight to nowhere movement has taken off in parts of the world.
Two flights planned for March
ANA’s flights to nowhere program has been operating on a rolling monthly basis, with tickets for future flights being allocated by lottery around a month before each flight. In March, the airline is planning to operate two Airbus A380 flight instead of the usual one that it has been running so far.
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Taking off on March 20 and March 29, the Airbus A380 flights are scheduled to depart Tokyo Narita airport, each lasting three and a half hours. While seat allocations will be handled by a lottery, ANA will be charging passengers for a place on the flight.
This will see first class tickets go for as much as $970. Of course, the price will vary upon the cabin. As it is a sightseeing flight, the prices will also vary between the window seats and those in the centre of the aircraft.
The pricing tiers are as follows,
- First Class (all) – ¥102,000 – $971
- Business Class (window) – ¥63,000 – $600
- Business Class (aisle) – ¥58,000 – $552
- Premium economy (window) – ¥44,000 – $419
- Premium economy (aisle) – ¥39,000 – $371
- Economy (window) – ¥39,000 – $371
- Economy (overwing window) – ¥37,000 – $352
- Economy (aisle) – ¥34,000 – $324
An experience, not a flight
You may be wondering what the point of buying an aisle seat on a sightseeing flight is. After all, it’s hard to see sights without a window. The sightseeing flight to nowhere is much more than just a flight. In fact, ANA has turned the whole trip into an experience.
For the price of the ticket, passengers also get a boarding certificate, a souvenir, and an in-flight meal. The gifts and meals differ by cabin. Every passenger will get an ANA turtle backpack, a branded face towel, and an A380 sticker. Those in Premium economy will also get a branded tote bag. In Business class passengers will get an amenity kit, while first class passengers will get an amentiy kit and a 1:200 scale model of the aircraft that they’ve travelled on.
Children and those who give a special phrase on the day will also get an ANA Airbus A380 balloon. While ANA owns three Airbus A380s, only two could be used for this trip. The blue and green aircraft.
This is as, while having been delivered on paper, the orange Airbus A380 remains in Airbus’ care awaiting the end of the pandemic. ANA typically only operates the A380 on flights to Honolulu, meaning they won’t return to regular service until passenger demand to Hawaii returns.
Would you want to fly on ANA’s flight to nowhere? Let us know what you think and why in the comments!
