LONDON – Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways are Japan’s two largest carriers. We ask the following question: Which one is the most active?
Using data from RadarBox.com, we will establish whether Japan Airlines is the most active or whether All Nippon Airways is.
Without further ado, let’s get into the numbers…
All Nippon Airways’ Movement Numbers…
For January 15-22, All Nippon Airways operated 1,075 movements, based on a seven-day rolling average provided by the flight tracking company.
This represents a 9.03% increase compared to the same period last year when 986 movements were recorded.
Below is the airline’s performance for January so far:
| Date | 2019 Numbers | 2021 Numbers | 2022 Numbers | 2023 Numbers | Percentage Difference (2023 vs. 2022) |
| January 1-8 | 706 movements | 616 movements | 1023 movements | 1099 movements | +7.43% |
| January 8-15 | 917 movements | 601 movements | 988 movements | 1060 movements | +7.29% |
What we can see from the data is that All Nippon Airways has exceeded pre-pandemic movement numbers throughout the whole of January thus far.
For next week, All Nippon Airways needs to beat 2022’s number of 941 movements, but in order to achieve pre-pandemic levels, it needs to exceed 1,043 movements.
Japan Airlines’ Numbers…
For January 15-22, Japan Airlines achieved 827 movements, based on the seven-day rolling average from RadarBox.com.
This represents an increase of 9.25% compared to the same period last year when 757 movements were recorded.
Below is Japan Airlines’ performance for January so far:
| Date | 2019 Numbers | 2021 Numbers | 2022 Numbers | 2023 Numbers | Percentage Difference (2023 vs. 2022) |
| January 1-8 | 548 movements | 6 movements | 795 movements | 835 movements | +5.03% |
| January 8-15 | 697 movements | 7 movements | 752 movements | 816 movements | +8.51% |
What we can see from the data above is that Japan Airlines, like All Nippon Airways, has also been able to exceed pre-pandemic levels in 2023 so far.
Based on the huge difference between 2023 and 2019’s numbers, it can be expected that this pattern will continue for the airline.
For next week, Japan Airlines will need to exceed 728 movements if it is to beat 2022’s numbers and 790 movements in 2019’s numbers.
The Verdict…
Based on the data presented, All Nippon Airways is the most active carrier, beating Japan Airlines by around a staggering 248 movements.
Both airlines are major in their own right, but Japan Airlines still has a lot of work to do if it is to achieve the same sort of numbers as its Japanese competitor.
As air travel continues to open up more within Japan and the surrounding areas post-COVID, it will be interesting to see whether the numbers differ further in 12 months’ time.
But for now, all eyes are on both carriers to see where else they will choose to expand around the world and domestically in order to boost their numbers further going into the future.
