All Nippon Airways' parent company is looking to space as a new frontier for commercial travel.



ANA Holdings announced it would be making a Y200 million (USD $1.8 million) in Japanese space flight company PD AeroSpace.

Based in Nagoya, Japan, PD Aerospace is developing a manned spacecraft that would use jet and rocket engines for hypersonic flight. The company is looking to launch its first flight - an unmanned craft to space - next year. The future plans will eventually lead to commercial passenger space flights by the year 2023.

“ANA is excited about the future of transportation and how PD Aerospace’s space technology will play an integral role,” says Yoshiaki Tsuda, vice-president of 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.”

For ANA, the investment could create a new market and reduce travel time on commercial flights using spacecraft.

“Amid the accelerating development of space projects by the private sector, ANA Group will set out to utilise 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,” ANA states.

ANA is joined by Japanese-based travel agency HIS, theme park operator Huis Ten Bosch, Optima Ventures and Mizuho Capital in investing in the PD AeroSpace.

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