Photo: Daisuke Shimizu/ Shutterstock 18/12/2023

Nippon Cargo Airlines Boeing 747-8F

Photo: Daisuke Shimizu/ Shutterstock

ANA Holdings has received approval for its planned takeover of Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA) from Japan’s Fair Trade Commission (JFTC).

JFTC had initially rejected the proposed takeover because of concerns that the deal would restrict competition on services from Japan to the Chicago area and the Los Angeles area.

The competition authority said that in the overall cargo market - excluding large and dangerous goods shipments - NCA and ANA Holdings' subsidiary airlines, including All Nippon Airways, would have a market share of around 30% to the Los Angeles area and 35% to the Chicago area. They would rank first in terms of capacity to both of these areas.

To appease the regulator, the two companies agreed that they would provide a block space agreement to rival freighter carrier Polar Air Cargo and appoint a lawyer and an economist to monitor the agreement.

JFTC said the measures "create an effective check so that the group of companies involved cannot freely influence prices".

However, the deal is still awaiting approval from competition authorities in China and Singapore.

ANA first announced its plans to purchase Boeing 747-8 freighter operator NCA from the NYK shipping group in March 2023.

However, the deal has been delayed four times. ANA had originally anticipated to complete the deal on 1 October 2023, but this was later pushed back until 1 February 2024, then 1 April 2024, then July 1 2024 and finally in June last year, the proposed takeover date was pushed back to March 2025.

ANA said the delays were down to the approval process being carried out by competition regulators.

Shipping group NYK decided to sell NCA to ANA due to the ongoing costs of running the cargo airline.

NCA currently operates a fleet of eight 747-8 freighter aircraft and owns five 747-400 freighters that are operated by ASL and Atlas Air.

ANA said at the time the deal was announced that the takeover would dramatically enhance its international air cargo network and products and services based in Japan.

All Nippon Airways operates six Boeing 767 freighters and two Boeing 777 freighters.

It is understood the two airlines would continue to operate on separate operating certificates.