ANA launches superjumbo jet service between Honolulu and Tokyo

Honolulu became the country's eleventh largest airport to offer "super jumbo" services when All Nippon Airways began serving today its 520-seat A380, the largest airliner in the world.

The colorful Airbus A380 "Flying Honu", which has been painted to look like a friendly turtle, costs hundreds of millions of dollars and represents approximately the length of a 20-story building.

ANA has also ensured that the interior of the "Flying Honu" takes advantage of all this space, even offering luxurious touches to the economy and higher levels of quality which, he hopes, will appeal to holidaymakers. search for a better experience. It offers the first economy class sofa seats that turn into a family bed. The unit also offers Toto Japanese toilets, or bidet-style toilets, in all toilets of the class.

Passengers also have the opportunity, in Honolulu, to stop in a highly modernized lounge, the only overseas lounges operated by ANA. The ANA suite's lounge, available only for first-class passengers from ANA, can seat 70 people. Another ANA lounge can also accommodate business class, economy and other selected passengers. It can accommodate up to 300 people. The larger lounge is open to all travelers for $ 40 fee and offers Diamond Head views. There is also a play area for children and a breastfeeding room for mothers.

"ANA is excited to introduce a new way to travel between Hawaii and Tokyo. Once you are aboard, I hope you will be able to feel how much the inviting beauty of Hawaii has inspired us, "said Shigeru" Sean "Hattori, ANA Senior Vice President for the Americas and chief executive of New York.

The start of the service puts ANA on the road to achieving its goal for 2020 of doubling the number of seats that connect Honolulu to Tokyo. ANA currently offers three daily flights between these cities on board its Boeing 787, which carries between 200 and 250 passengers. As of today, the carrier adds service four times a week on its A380s. ANA will add a second A380 to the Hawaiian market in July and a third in July 2020.

>> RELATED: See photos of the maiden flight in the gallery.

Governor David Ige said the state had made $ 13 million in airport improvements so that the A380 service could begin in Honolulu. According to ANGE, ANA's new service will provide an additional $ 285 million to the state's economy and up to $ 30 million in tax revenue.

"I was excited, this day had been going on for four years, as we partnered with ANA to improve their service between Hawaii and Tokyo," said Ige. "Mahalo for the partnership between the state of Hawaii and Hawaii and ANA. "

Ige also thanked the carrier for its investments in the community: support for beach cleaning organizations, bike sharing, reforestation to reduce carbon emissions and sponsorship of a music festival.