Like most of its kind, the A380 of All Nippon Airways (ANA) currently has no real task due to corona. ANA has three Airbus A380 in its fleet, whereby the third was formally delivered but still not picked up and parked in Toulouse.
The other two aircraft with registrations JA381A and JA382A, arrived in Japan before the pandemic. ANA calls its three A380s "Flying Honu" and had them painted in colorful turtle special paints, an attribute to Hawaii's sea turtle. The planes were intended to fly to Honolulu from Tokyo every day.
Until that becomes possible again, the superjumbos will be busy somehow. The ANA-A380s take off for a test flight every 90 days. In the summer of last year, ANA began selling tickets for these test flights, starting and ending up at the ANA's home base Tokyo-Narita.
These flights generated a great demand and have therefore been repeated several times since then. Although "Flying Honu" JA381A has been in Xiamen for the C-Check since last week, ANA is now planning another series of "flights to nowhere" with the JA382A in April.
For the first time, the airline will no longer only offer these flights from Tokyo, but will also include two other Japanese airports in its program. ANA will bring its A380 to the international airports of Kansai and Chubu, where the flying turtle will take off on April 17th and 18th and April 24th and 25th for two sightseeing flights each. Each flight will take around three and a half hours.
On board, passengers can expect catering typical for scheduled flights and various souvenirs. In addition, each passenger can be served a mojito on request to spark a little holiday feeling. Prices start at 34,000 yen (263 euros) for the Tokyo sightseeing flight and 44,000 yen (340 euros) each for the flights from Kansai and Chubu.
