ANA : Continuing to Support PD Aerospace into the Space Age

TOKYO, May 31, 2018 -ANA HOLDINGS (ANA HD), today announced that it will be investing an additional 200 million yen to PD Aerospace, a space-venture company, by ANA HD receiving PD Aerospace shares through a third-party allotment.

Back in October 2016, ANA HD, the largest airline group in Japan and H.I.S., one of Japan's biggest travel agencies established a capital alliance with PD Aerospace to develop commercial space flight using a new type of spacecraft. ANA HD invested 20.4 million yen in PD Aerospace at that time.

'ANA is excited about the future of transportation and how PD Aerospace's space technology will play an integral role,' said Yoshiaki Tsuda, Vice President, ANA Digital Design Lab. 'We are increasing our support to help expedite the project's timeline of testing and launching an unmanned spacecraft to an altitude of 100km.'

Last July, PD Aerospace succeeded in an experimental propulsion system (*1), a world first, which can alternate between a jet engine and rocket engine function (*2).

This time, in addition to ANA HD and H.I.S, Huis Ten Bosch, Mizuho Growth Fund No.2 Limited Partnership (Mizuho Capital Co., Ltd.), and Optima Ventures have also invested in PD Aerospace. PD Aerospace is still looking for new investors in order to close this funding round.

With the additional investment funds, PD Aerospace will transfer the Research and Development Center to a new location within the city of Hekinan, Aichi Prefecture, and accomplish its ambitious goal to fly an unmanned spacecraft equipped with the propulsion system up to an altitude of 100 km in the year 2019. The new location includes a hangar for the spacecraft and is eight times bigger than the current one.

In order to accelerate and support the development of manned spacecraft, ANA HD has dedicated one of its very own skilled aircraft mechanics, who has been relocated to PD Aerospace and is working together with its team.

As one of the efforts to realize 'ANA Group Society 5.0'(*3) in line with the ANA Group's Mid-Term Corporate Strategy for FY2018-2022, ANA HD aims to create new markets and demands such as space travel and high-speed transport which will significantly shorten travel time of commercial flights.

Amid the accelerating development of space projects by the private sector, ANA Group will set out to utilize the knowledge of operations cultivated in the air transportation business, to prepare for the space era and its many space projects and businesses including space travel and transportation.

• (*1) The engine is comprised of a simple tube structure which incorporates jet engine and rocket engine functions in one by utilizing the characteristics of a pulse detonation engine to enable hypersonic flight. This mechanism makes it possible to fly through the normal atmosphere as well as space in one aircraft

• (*2) The space plane uses systems similar to those on a conventional aircraft. It takes off and lands using its jet engine and converts to rocket engine mode when in space.

• (*3) For more Information about 'Society 5.0' and 'ANA Group Society 5.0' laid out in its Mid-Term Corporate Strategy for FY2018-2022, please refer to the links below.
  http://www8.cao.go.jp/cstp/english/society5_0/index.html
  https://www.ana.co.jp/group/en/pr/201802/20180201-2.html

Contact:ANA Corporate Communications, TEL +81-3-6735-1111, publicrelations@ana.co.jp

About ANA
Following the 'Inspiration of Japan' high quality of service, ANA has been awarded the respected 5-Star rating from SKYTRAX for six consecutive years starting in 2013. Additionally, ANA has been recognized by Air Transport World as 'Airline of the Year' three times in the past 10 years - 2007, 2013 and 2018, becoming one of the few airlines winning this prestigious award for multiple times.

ANA was founded in 1952 with two helicopters and has become the largest airline in Japan, as well as one of the most significant airlines in Asia, operating 85 international routes and 119 domestic routes. ANA offers a unique dual hub model which enables passengers to travel to Tokyo and connect through the two airports in the metropolitan Tokyo, NARITA and HANEDA, to various destinations throughout Japan, and also offers same day connections between various North American, Asian and Chinese cities.
ANA has been a member of Star Alliance since 1999 and has joint venture partnerships with United Airlines, Lufthansa German Airlines, Swiss International Airlines and Austrian Airlines.

Besides the full service and award winner carrier ANA, the ANA Group has two LCCs as consolidated subsidiaries, Vanilla Air Inc. and Peach Aviation Limited. The ANA Group carried 53.8 million passengers in FY2017, has approximately 39,000 employees and a fleet of 260 aircraft. ANA is a proud launch customer and the biggest operator of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.