Just as a tide of canceled orders has prompted Airbus SE to halt production of the A380 superjumbo, Japan's biggest airline is betting it can succeed where others have failed — by filling the luxurious double-deckers with tourists flying to Hawaii.
From May 24, ANA Holdings Inc. has scheduled three flights a week from Narita airport near Tokyo to Honolulu on the 520-seat behemoths, painted in a special sea-turtle theme. The carrier will bring on one more A380 for the Hawaii service in July and a third next year, ANA President Yuji Hirako said, adding that reservations for the route are already more than 40 percent higher than a year ago.
The plan leaves ANA as the only passenger line with A380s on order other than Dubai-based Emirates, which has been the plane's mainstay airline. The aircraft — which wowed travelers with in-flight showers, bedrooms and bars but was too big to win over most carriers — may help ANA close the Hawaii market-share gap with arch-rival Japan Airlines Co. Still, some question whether the carrier can keep filling the plane once the novelty wears off.