Japan Post is poised to pull out of its air cargo joint venture with All Nippon Airways (ANA) afterthree years due to disappointing volumes, according to Japanese media. The move will enable ANA to
take full control of its freighter operations and further build up its own international expressbusiness.Japan Post Service, the group’s postal operations division, plans to dispose of its 33.3%stake in the joint air cargo company ‘ANA and JP Express’ (AJV) back to the airline, the YomiuriShimbun newspaper reported. ANA holds 51.7% in the venture, with the remainder held by NipponExpress and shipping line MOL.
The cargo airline, which was created in 2006 at a time when Japan Post aimed to expand itsinternational business, has performed poorly due to weak volumes and the global recession,according to the newspaper. Under the original plan, part of the airline’s capacity was to bededicated to Japan Post international volumes. This would have been supported by Japan Post’splanned cooperation with TNT Express.
AJV operates ANA’s scheduled B767 freighter flights between Japan and a range of destinationsin Asia (Seoul, Hong Kong, Taipei and Bangkok), various Chinese cities (Shanghai, Dalian, Qingdao,Tianjin and Xiamen) as well as Chicago.
ANA is currently restructuring its air cargo operations and building up its own internationalexpress business with the August 1 merger of its two express holdings OCS and All Express (Allex).The new company is designed as a ‘regional integrator’ offering door-to-door delivery using ANAairlift capacity. By acquiring Japan Post’s stake in AJV, ANA will thus gain full control over thecargo airline operation, including capacity utilisation.
