ANA - All Nippon Airways (NH, Tokyo Haneda) has paused its long-running cargo partnerships with Lufthansa Cargo and United Airlines following its acquisition of NCA - Nippon Cargo Airlines, informing the Tokyo Stock Exchange of the decision in a September 29 filing.
"We have decided to suspend the contract regarding the joint air cargo venture due to future restructuring of our cargo business," the filing said. ANA has operated the cargo joint venture with Lufthansa Cargo and United since 2014.
ANA confirmed its circa JPY13 billion yen (USD86.8 million) acquisition of NCA from Japanese shipping group Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK Line) in July. ANA was targeting an October 1, 2023, deadline to close the deal, but ch-aviation recently reported that this would not happen until the first quarter of 2024, citing the need for approval from the relevant domestic and international authorities.
Japanese-language media outlets suggest ANA would have been restricted in what information it could share with NCA ahead of the takeover while its joint venture with Lufthansa Cargo and United Airlines remained active, so the decision was made to suspend the partnership until the NCA acquisition closes.
According to the ch-aviation PRO airlines module, NCA's fleet of eight owned B747-8Fs operate cargo flights to 13 airports in the United States, Italy, the Netherlands, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Taipei from its Tokyo Narita base.
