All Nippon Airways bites into a tasty Peach, LCC subsidiary
A&F Aviation Co, Ltd (A&F Aviation), owners of what is soon to be Japan's first full-service low-cost subsidiary airline, announced today, 24-May-2011, that their airline will operate under the brand name "Peach".
According to the company, in which All Nippon Airways has a 33.4% stake, in partnership with Hong Kong Investors First Eastern (33.3%) and Japan's Innovation Network Corporation of Japan (INCJ), the name was "chosen for its symbolism as a well-known and much loved fruit that symbolises longevity, energy and happiness across Asian countries".
On the same date, A&F Aviation Co becomes 'Peach Aviation Ltd'
Peach will operate with low-cost 10 Airbus A320 aircraft leased from GE Capital, "to tap regional demand for leisure travel including". Scheduled to commence operations later this year, the airline aims to be carrying 6 million passengers by 2015. It will be based out of Kansai International Airport.
ANA likes the taste of LCC
All Nippon Airways' website discreetly makes no mention of the LCC.
Footnote: this will not be the first Peach to fly. In the late 1990s Peach Air operated out of the UK as a low cost charter operator before being folded into Thomas Cook and combined into JMC Air.
Picture of the original Peach Air
Source: www.al-airliners.be