Japan’s largest airline ANA announces changes to its board

TOKYO, 2017-Feb-20 — /Travel PR News/ — ANA, Japan’s largest airline, today (February 16, 2017) announces changes to its board. Yuji Hirako, Executive Vice President and Member of the Board, will succeed Osamu Shinobe as President and CEO from 1 April this year, while Mr. Shinobe will become Vice Chairman of ANA HOLDINGS Inc. on the same date.

Mr. Hirako joined ANA in 1981 after graduating from Tokyo University with a degree in Economics. In his 36 years at ANA, Mr. Hirako has held a wide range of senior positions within the airline and has led a number of major divisions, including Passenger Services at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, Revenue Management, Finance & Accounting, and Marketing & Sales. He held a senior role in ANA’s Network Planning division during a time when the airline greatly expanded international scheduled services, increasing its presence across Asia, Europe and North America. He is 59.

Mr. Shinobe was appointed President and CEO of ANA in April 2013. Under his leadership, ANA has achieved a major expansion of its international network from Haneda and Narita Airport and its international business has become Japan’s biggest. During each year of his tenure, ANA continues to be awarded the highest ‘5-Star airline’ rating by SKYTRAX.

Mr. Hirako joined the board of ANA in 2015 when he was named Executive Vice President, Accounting. Under his leadership, ANA Group has achieved record income and profit, building a solid foundation for future growth.

Prior to taking up this position, Mr. Hirako was Senior Vice President for The Americas, during which time he oversaw the inauguration of services to the North American destinations of Seattle, San Jose, and Vancouver. In April 2010, he was appointed Vice President of Corporate Planning and played a vital role in expanding the airline’s route network and traffic numbers by introducing the Boeing 787 to ANA’s main fleet.

About ANA
ANA is the largest airline in Japan by revenues and passenger numbers. Founded in 1952, ANA flies today on 87 international routes and 114 domestic routes. The ANA group has 35,000 employees and a fleet of about 260 aircraft. In FY2015, it carried 50.8 million passengers and generated revenues of 1.79 trillion Japanese yen. ANA has been a member of Star Alliance since 1999, and has joint-ventures with United Airlines on trans-Pacific and Asia routes, and with Lufthansa, Swiss International Airlines and Austrian Airlines on Japan-Europe routes. Its Frequent Flyer Program, ANA Mileage Club, has more than 26 million members. ANA was voted Airline of the Year for 2013 by Air Transport World Magazine, and in 2016 was awarded five stars for the fourth consecutive year by the world’s leading Airline and Airport review site, SKYTRAX. ANA is the launch customer and biggest operator of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

Curriculum Vitae of Yuji Hirako:

Date of Birth:
January 25th, 1958

Education:
Bachelor, Economics, Tokyo University (graduated in March, 1981)

Curriculum Vitae of Osamu Shinobe:

Date of Birth:
November 11th, 1951

Education:
Bachelor, Science and Engineering, Waseda University (graduated in March, 1976)

Contact:

Wataru Yoshioka and Maho Ito
ANA Corporate Communications
TEL: +81-3-6735-1111

Source: ANA Group