Domestic era[edit]
ANA grew through the 1960s, adding the Vickers Viscount to the fleet in 1960 and the Fokker F27 in 1961.[8] October 1961 marked ANA's debut on the Tokyo Stock Exchange as well as the Osaka Securities Exchange.[8] 1963 saw another merger, with Fujita Airlines, raising the company's capital to 4.65 billion yen.[8] In 1965 ANA introduced jets with Boeing 727s on the Tokyo-Sapporo route. It also introduced Japan's first homegrown turboprop airliner, the NAMC YS-11 in 1965, replacing Convair 440s on local routes.[8] In 1969, ANA introduced Boeing 737 services.[8]
ANA Boeing 747SR-81 at Perth Airport (mid-1980s)
As ANA grew it started to contract travel companies across Japan to handle ground services in each region. Many of these companies received shares in ANA as part of their deals. Some of these relationships continue today in different forms: for instance, Nagoya Railroad, which handled ANA's operations in the Chūbu region along with other partnerships,[12] maintains a permanent seat on ANA's board of directors.[13] By 1974, ANA had Japan's largest domestic airline network.[11]
While ANA's domestic operations grew, the Ministry of Transportation had granted government-owned Japan Airlines (JAL) a monopoly on international scheduled flights[8] that lasted until 1986. ANA was allowed to operate international charter flights: its first was a 727 charter from Tokyo to Hong Kong on 21 February 1971.[14]
Key ANA fleet types in the early 1990s: Boeing 747SR and Lockheed L-1011
ANA bought its first widebody aircraft, six Lockheed L-1011s, in November 1971, following a lengthy sales effort by Lockheed which had involved negotiations between US president Richard Nixon, Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka and UK prime minister Edward Heath (lobbying in favor of engine maker Rolls-Royce). Tanaka also pressed Japanese regulators to permit ANA to operate on Asia routes as part of the package.[15] The aircraft entered service on the Tokyo-Okinawa route in 1974. The carrier had ordered McDonnell Douglas DC-10s but cancelled the order at the last minute and switched to Lockheed. It was later revealed that Lockheed had indirectly bribed Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka to force this switch: the scandal led to the arrest of Tanaka and several managers from ANA and Lockheed sales agent Marubeni for corruption.[16]
Boeing 747-200s were introduced on the Tokyo-Sapporo and Tokyo-Fukuoka routes in 1976[8] and Boeing 767s in 1983[17] on Shikoku routes. The carrier's first 747s were the short-range SR variant, designed for Japanese domestic routes.[14]