Japan’s ANA Group acquires Myanmar-based airline

The ANA Group, Japan's largest airline group, announces that it will acquire a 49 per cent stake in the Myanmar-based airline Asian Wings Airways (AWA). 

ANA Group will invest $25 million (2.5 billion yen) for AWA as part of its stated strategy of expanding into new international markets.

As part of the investment, ANA will also work with AWA to improve its operational and on-time performance and support its expansion into markets outside Myanmar. AWA is a profitable airline currently operating only domestic services. However, it plans to inaugurate international routes from October this year and intends to expand its aircraft fleet with a goal of operating ten A320 aircraft by 2018. For the fiscal year ending March, 2013, AWA reported revenue of US$17.8 million.

The investment in AWA is in line with ANA's group corporate strategy for FY2013-2015 which involves diversification into new growth areas, centered primarily around airline-related businesses particularly in the Asian area. The acquisition of the stake in AWA represents the first investment in a Myanmar-based commercial carrier by a foreign airline. ANA intends to capture an increasing share of the fast-growing Asian airline market and this investment in AWA will support that strategic goal.

In addition, on September 30 (Monday), ANA will increase the number of flights between Tokyo-Narita and Yangon from three per week to seven and also intends to introduce larger aircraft onto the route. As ANA works to boost transport capacity between Japan and Myanmar, it will also improve connectivity with onward flights (operated by AWA) to key cities in Myanmar, which is expected to contribute to ANA’s own route network.