All Nippon Airways (ANA)

Is ANA safe?

Yes. All Nippon Airways has not had a crash with deaths since 1971, flies a modern fleet and answers to a strict regulator. We score it 89, level with Qantas. The points it loses are for what happens on the ground: in April 2026 Japan's transport ministry found that ANA mechanics had falsified a maintenance record, and it told the airline to rebuild its safety management.

The accident record

ANA's two deadliest crashes are both from the 1960s and 1970s. On 4 February 1966, a Boeing 727 crashed into Tokyo Bay on approach to Haneda, killing all 133 on board. On 30 July 1971, a Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-86 fighter on a training flight strayed across the airway near Shizukuishi and struck the tail of NH58, a 727 flying from Sapporo to Tokyo. All 162 people on the airliner died; the fighter pilot ejected.

The one death since then was a crime. On 23 July 1999, a passenger forced his way into the cockpit of a 747 shortly after take-off from Haneda and stabbed the captain, who died of his wounds. The first officer and others overpowered the man and landed safely.

In the 20 years our rubric looks at, ANA has written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary one aircraft, and nobody was on it: a 747 caught fire in the cargo hold during cleaning at a Bangkok maintenance base in 2008. Everything else in the Aviation Safety Network records is an accident because of injuries or damage: mostly turbulence, plus a lightning strike that damaged a 787's fuselage near Narita in March 2024 (nobody hurt) and a hard landing at Narita in 2012. Under international rules a single serious injury makes an event an accident, and Japan records and investigates these thoroughly, so the list looks longer than it is worrying. The Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB) investigates each one and publishes a report.

What went wrong in 2025?

On 14 April 2026, the Civil Aviation Bureau issued a business improvement recommendation to ANA, together with a warning to its safety accountable manager. Two cases from November 2025 triggered it:

• At Osaka Itami on 27 November 2025, a mechanic replacing a parking brake valve used a hydraulic oil that ANA forbids. He noticed, decided it was acceptable, wrote a false maintenance record and let the aircraft fly. He then changed part of the oil without recording the work.
• At Narita on 13 November 2025, damage to the cargo-hold rails of a cargo aircraft was judged minor without checking ANA's rules, and the aircraft flew without repair.

Neither case led to an incident in flight. The ministry noted that ANA had already received a strict warning for deliberately breaking maintenance rules at Fukushima airport on 25 October 2024, and concluded that its safety management system was not stopping repeats. But a falsified maintenance record is one of the things regulators take most seriously, because the whole system depends on the paperwork being true. ANA had to report its fixes by 15 May 2026. The ministry had already issued a strict warning to ANA Holdings and four group airlines in 2025 over lapses in required filings and approvals.

How old are ANA's planes?

Young for a full-service airline. ANA Holdings' fleet table lists 244 aircraft under the ANA brand at 30 June 2026, including 25 Dash 8-400 turboprops and eight freighters. The Boeing 787 is the backbone: 36 787-8s, 45 787-9s and 10 787-10s. Short-haul flying uses 37 A320-family jets, 33 of them A320neos and A321neos, and 39 Boeing 737-800s. Three Airbus A380s fly the Honolulu routes. The 26 passenger Boeing 777s and the 15 Boeing 767-300ERs are the oldest part. For the year to March 2027 ANA plans to add five 787s and its first five Boeing 737-8s and to retire three 777-300s; 777-9s and Embraer E190-E2 regional jets come later.

ANA does not publish an average fleet age, and we found no company figure to quote.

Who flies your ANA flight?

ANA's group has several airlines, each with its own air operator's certificate:

• ANA (All Nippon Airways): the mainline airline scored here.
• ANA Wings: flies Dash 8-400s and some 737-800s on domestic routes under NH flight numbers.
• Peach: the low-cost airline, with its own MM code and A320-family fleet.

All three are overseen by JCAB, and none has had a fatal accident. The IOSA registrationIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary we could confirm, through the IATA member list, covers ANA itself.

How to fly ANA more safely

• Keep your belt fastened whenever you sit down. Turbulence is the cause of most of ANA's recent accidents, and in nearly all of them it was cabin crew, standing in the aisle, who were hurt.
• Build slack into winter and typhoon-season trips. Snow in Hokkaido and typhoons over Okinawa and Kyushu bring cancellations every year. Book a buffer day before an international connection rather than pressing on in bad weather.

How we scored it

The accident record (95) carries the score, and oversight by Japan's JCAB (90) is strong. Serious incidents (78) cost the most points, because of the 2026 recommendation over falsified maintenance records. Compare Japan Airlines, which scores lower because of the 2024 Haneda collision and repeated pilot alcohol cases.