ANA and Rakuten to Start Joint Venture Domestic Travel Company

JCN Newswires, July 12, 2006

Tokyo, Japan, July 12, 2006 - (JCN Newswire) - ANA and Rakuten, Inc, the company behind Rakuten Shopping Mall, the busiest online shopping destination for Japanese consumers, announced at a press conference today that the two companies will establish a joint venture company to provide online travel services to the general public, on August 1 this year.

The new company, called Rakuten ANA Travel On-line, will provide packages that customers put together themselves, combining any of ANA's 900 daily flights with a choice of 20,000 lodgings, car rental and other services, provided by Rakuten Travel, Inc and ANA Sales Co Ltd, ANA's tour operator subsidiary.

Both ANA and Rakuten groups enjoy the number one share in their respective markets: ANA is the largest domestic airline in Japan for passengers carried, and Rakuten has the largest share of online domestic accommodation bookings. The new travel packages will be branded 'ANA Raku Pack' ('raku' meaning 'easy' or 'fun' in Japanese), and will be sold through the Rakuten Travel website from October this year.

ANA and Rakuten first joined forces in July 2004 with a joint loyalty programme allowing ANA Mileage Club (AMC) members to earn mileage using the Rakuten site, and members of the Rakuten Super Point Programme to earn points while flying ANA.

In this new development both companies will provide a variety of travel products on a single site that customers can build according to their individual needs and budget, in a move aimed at making the travel process ever more simple and convenient.

Outline of the New Joint Venture Company

1)  Name                   Rakuten ANA Travel Online Co Ltd
2)  Field of Operation     Travel services
3)  Date of Establishment  August 1, 2006
4)  Capital                90 million yen
5)  Total Investment       700 million yen
6)  Investors              Rakuten, Inc (Rakuten) 50%
                           All Nippon Airways Co. Ltd (ANA) 40%
                           ANA Sales Co. Ltd (ANA Sales) 10%
7)  Directors              To be appointed by both ANA and Rakuten
8)  Executives             ANA Group 3
                           Rakuten Group 3
9)  No of Employees        10
10) Head Office            Ark Yagi Hills, Roppongi 1-8-7
                           Minato-ku, Tokyo
                           (Rakuten Travel head office address)

About All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd.

All Nippon Airways, or ANA (TSE: 9202), came into existence in 1952, and over 50 years later is now one of the 10 largest airlines in the world, carrying with its sister companies almost 50 million passengers every year to 49 destinations in Japan, and to 22 overseas cities in Asia, Europe and the United States. As a member of Star Alliance, the world's foremost airline alliance, ANA passengers enjoy access to a network of over 790 airport destinations in 138 countries, and reciprocal benefits such as mileage accrual and redemption, and lounge access. For more information, please visit www.ana.co.jp.

About Rakuten, Inc.

Rakuten, Inc. (TSE: 4755) is primarily involved in the operation of an Internet shopping mall website. Rakuten Market (online shopping) accounted for 96% of revenues in fiscal 2000 and Other Internet-related services, 4%.

Source: All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd.Rakuten, Inc.

Contact:

ANA Public Relations
Tel:  81 (3) 6735 1111

Rakuten Public Relations
Tel:  81 (3) 4523 1104
E-mail: pr@rakuten.co.jp

Copyright [c] 2006 JCN Newswire. All rights reserved. A division of Japan Corporate News Network K.K.