Strike Prompts ANA To Cancel 163 Flights

Michael Mecham mecham@aviationweek.com

A 24-hour strike by pilots at four All Nippon Airlines' subsidiaries today prompted the group to cancel or delay 163 domestic flights, accounting for 18.4% of its total capacity.

Only domestic flights of Air Nippon, Air Nippon Network, Air Next and Air Central were affected. ANA officials expect services to be fully restored sometime tomorrow.

The unions struck over the progress of a round of spring negotiations. Involved are Air Nippon Crew's Association with 473 pilots, Air Nippon Network Pilot Union (57 pilots), Air Next Crew's Association (23 pilots) and Air Central Pilots' Union (52 pilots).

In all, the ANA Group cancelled 149 flights affecting about 6,050 passengers and delayed 14 others affecting 1,218 passengers. The four subsidiaries have a total of 886 daily flights.

Photo credit: Star Alliance