Early years

Air Japan was established as World Air Network on June 29, 1990, and became the charter airline arm of All Nippon Airways (ANA), but suspended operations in September 1995. On July 5, 2000, World Air Network was renamed Air Japan, and began operating services under the ANA brand. It relaunched service as a scheduled airline on January 1, 2001; its first flight departed from Osaka to Seoul, South Korea with a Boeing 767-300 transferred from ANA.^[6][7][8]

On April 2, 2010, it was announced that Air Japan and ANA & JP Express would merge, with Air Japan being the surviving company.^[9][10] In taking over the operations of ANA & JP Express, which operated Boeing 767 cargo aircraft, Air Japan subsequently began operating both the passenger and cargo version of the Boeing 767. It would continue operating Boeing 767s on behalf of ANA, before beginning to operate Boeing 787s on behalf of ANA as well in 2018.^[11][12]

Redevelopment

On March 8, 2022, ANA unveiled plans to transform Air Japan into a low-cost medium-haul carrier, with flights to be launched in the second half of the 2023 fiscal year. It was launched with the slogan Fly Thoughtful, and its brand name was restyled and revised to AirJapan.^[5] Up to this point, Air Japan had shared the same callsign with All Nippon Airways on all flights except routes to and from Seoul Incheon, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Honolulu which used the Air Japan call sign.^{[citation needed]}

On March 9, 2023, ANA announced that Air Japan would be servicing flights to and from Southeast Asia starting in February 2024, using Boeing 787s in an all-economy class layout.^[13][14][15] The airline is intended to be ANA's rival to Japan Airlines' Zipair Tokyo, which competes in the same sector.^[16][17] Later that year, Air Japan's first destination from its Tokyo Narita hub was announced as Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, beginning on February 9, 2024, marking the airline's inaugural flight as a low-cost airline.^[18]

Fleet development

Prior to its redevelopment and relaunch as a low-cost airline, Air Japan operated Boeing 767s and 787s on behalf of ANA.^[11][12] Following redevelopment, Air Japan's fleet plans consist of Boeing 787-8 aircraft to be transferred from ANA. The airline's first Boeing 787-8, registered JA803A, was planned to be received on January 26, 2024, ahead of the airline's launch on February 9.^[27] Its second aircraft was planned to be received in April 2024, with a total of six aircraft to be received by the end of the 2025 fiscal year.^[28]