All Nippon Airways announces Pikachu Jet NH -

With the warmer summer months approaching and the cherry blossoms ablaze with bright colors, it’s obviously the time for Pokémon characters to come out to play. In this case, it’s the Sky High Pokémon Rayquaza, touring Asia alongside a 787 Dreamliner.

Yesterday, Japanese carrier All Nippon Airlines (ANA) announced that it has teamed up with The Pokémon Company to launch the next aircraft in the Pokémon Air Adventures series. The aircraft will be known as “Pikachu Jet NH,” where NH is the International Air Transport Association’s airline code for ANA.

Photo: Skymark Airlines

The Sky High Pokémon Rayquaza will be featured on the aircraft’s fuselage, with ANA launching the first service on June 4. The aircraft selected for the conversion is a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, which was delivered to ANA in September 2017. Registered as JA894A with manufacturer serial number 34517, it operates a flight today from Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND) to Sydney Airport (SYD), Australia.

The 787 seats 246 passengers in a three-class layout, with 40 in Business, 14 in Premium Economy and 192 in Economy. How many places it will have after it becomes a Pokémon Fun Palace remains to be seen. The Dreamliner is one of 79 in ANA’s fleet and can be seen cruising across Asia to ports such as Ho Chi Minh City, Shanghai, Delhi, Manila, Singapore and Bangkok. It is also used on long-haul flights, such as those to Australia and Honolulu today.

China Airlines Airbus A321neo Pokemon livery

Photo: China Airlines

With Asia fully back in travel mode, so are the Pokémon Air Adventures “that people experience the joy of traveling and mobility again.” Pickachu Jet NH will carry the livery on domestic and international routes for five years starting June 4, 2023. To build expectations, ANA has released a set of itineraries for the Pikachu jet to operate from June 4 to October 28, 2023, although it said the itineraries are subject to change due to operational changes.

Where can we fly with it?

The potential first routes all originate from Haneda and carry the following flight numbers:

Bangkok – NH847/NH850/NH849/NH848
Singapore – NH841/NH844/NH843/NH842
Jakarta-NH855/NH856
Manila-NH869/NH870
Ho Chi Minh City – NH891/NH892
Delhi-NH837/NH838
Sydney – NH879/NH880/NH889/NH890
Vancouver-NH116/NH115
Honolulu – NH186/NH185.

Photo: Scoot

The goods are back

As you’d expect, Pokémon Air Adventures flights won’t lack themed merchandise or unique entertainment, though ANA and Pokémon are yet to reveal their secrets. They said yesterday that Pokémon-related content such as Pokémon Kids TV and POKÉTOON will be available on all ANA international flights and domestic flights starting in June and July, respectively.

The merchandise simply stated that the first original item was the “Bath Poncho”, which would go on sale in time for the maiden flight on June 4th. It will be available on ANA international and domestic flights through the inflight duty-free sales service and online shopping platform ANA [email protected].

This is the fifth plane in this Pokémon Air Adventures series. The previous aircraft were Skymark Airlines’ Pikachu Jet BC, China Airlines’ Jet CI, Scoot’s Jet TR, and T’way Air’s Jet TW.

Are you excited for the next Pikachu Jet? Let us know in the comments.