Singapore travellers to enjoy better access to rural Japan with SIA-ANA joint venture

TOKYO – Travellers flying into Japan from Singapore will soon enjoy better access to off-the-beaten-track destinations across the archipelago.

This comes as Singapore Airlines (SIA) signed a joint venture agreement with Japan’s largest carrier, All Nippon Airways (ANA), on April 17 in a deal that has been more than five years in the making, with plans first announced in January 2020.

Both airlines will pool their resources to achieve more efficient route planning, as they coordinate flight schedules, seat capacity and fares for flights between Singapore and Japan. ANA services 61 domestic airports in Japan, from Nemuro-Nakashibetsu in north-eastern Hokkaido to Ishigaki in south-western Okinawa.

SIA and ANA will sell “joint-fare tickets” under a revenue-sharing arrangement. What this means for travellers is shorter layovers and better-value fares, given that flights from both airlines can be combined in a single itinerary.

These tickets will go on sale from May, with the first flights under the joint venture to take off in September.

“When you operate medium-haul flights (using) wide-body planes, it is not commercially viable for us to operate to all the smaller airports in Japan (given the thinner traffic),” SIA chief executive Goh Choon Phong told The Straits Times on the sidelines of a media conference at the ANA Blue Base facility in Tokyo.

“Partnering with a pre-eminent carrier like ANA makes sense, because our customers can seamlessly connect to all these destinations,” he added.

The joint venture comes as inbound travel to Japan continues to break records. The Japan National Tourism Organisation said on April 16 that 10.5 million travellers visited the country between January and March 2025, up 23.1 per cent from the same period in 2024. Among them were 153,300 visitors from Singapore, up 16 per cent year on year.

The tourism body also observed that Singapore visitors were venturing outside the key nodes of Tokyo and Osaka. Okinawa, Yamaguchi, Fukuoka, Saga and Gifu prefectures registered the fastest growth in the number of nights stayed in 2024, compared with 2023 figures.

Meanwhile, the joint venture will allow residents in regional areas serviced by ANA domestic flights to enjoy better connectivity to Singapore.

It is also expected to boost Changi Airport as an air transit hub, given that ANA and SIA plan to offer joint-fare flights – via Singapore – to Australia, India, Indonesia and Malaysia, subject to regulatory approvals.

ANA chief executive Shinichi Inoue told reporters of his belief that the joint venture will “contribute to the national interests of both Singapore and Japan”.

“I am convinced that facilitating the movement of people by serving as a bridge for Asia will lead to the development of our countries,” he said. “In the face of industry changes and intensifying competition, cooperation between our companies will be key to achieving our medium-to-long-term goals.”

ANA chief executive Shinichi Inoue (left) and SIA chief executive Goh Choon Phong signing a joint venture agreement at a ceremony in Tokyo on April 17.PHOTO: SINGAPORE AIRLINES

The joint venture deepens the two airlines’ relationship beyond an existing code-share agreement that began in 2004, with the SQ code now seen on ANA flights to 30 domestic destinations within Japan. Both airlines are also members of the Star Alliance.

But while code-shares allow airlines to sell seats on each other’s flights, thus giving passengers a wider choice of destinations, prices are nonetheless set by the operating airline.

Ms Yukako Miisho, a manager with ANA’s international alliance department, said the key difference is how, with a joint venture, ANA and SIA will “develop various businesses as if they were the same company”.

By way of analogy, she likened a code-share partnership to that of a friendship, and a global alliance as akin to an officially recognised club. A joint venture goes even further, and is similar to a “marriage to become family”.

This is ANA’s third joint venture, following one with Germany’s Lufthansa and another with America’s United Airlines. SIA, meanwhile, has joint ventures with Lufthansa, Garuda Indonesia, Air New Zealand and Scandinavian Airlines.

Forming a joint venture, however, first requires regulatory approval, and this presented a bottleneck to plans that were derailed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Japan granted approval in April 2024, while the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore gave its green light in March 2025.

Under the terms of approval, both airlines will appoint an independent third-party auditor to monitor their compliance in areas such as seat capacity, with a report to be submitted to the competition authorities annually.

Going forward, SIA and ANA will work towards enhancing reciprocal benefits on their respective frequent flier programmes to allow travellers to earn miles across more fare classes, as well as align their corporate travel schemes.

Mr Inoue told ST that such partnerships are essential, given that there are limits to what a single company can achieve on its own, with the joint venture allowing the carriers to be more responsive to their customers’ needs.

ANA has limited reach in markets in the Global South, he said, adding that Singapore was the key transit hub to regions such as Asean and India with a rising middle class that is expected to fuel travel demand in the coming decades.

And for those who fly into Japan via SIA’s 10 daily flights to the country, Mr Inoue said: “We can introduce them to the appeal of Japan’s rural regions. This is a value we can offer.”