TOKYO, May 26, 2016 - ANA will be strengthening its onboard medical support services, principally on international flights, with the start of the new "ANA Doctor On Board" service in September 2016.
Under the new service, should an injury, illness or other medical emergency occur midflight, cabin crew will no longer have to make an initial announcement and ask if there are any doctors on board. Instead, they will be able to directly seek the help of any physicians on the flight who have registered in advance with the ANA Doctor On Board service, leading to more rapid emergency response.
ANA will begin asking doctors to register from July and plans to start the service on international flights from September. ANA will also provide more details on medical supplies available on each flight, allowing both registered doctors and passengers with existing injuries and illnesses to confirm this information in advance of their flights.
In addition, as part of ANA's efforts to provide a global, universal service, tablets carried by cabin crews will have language translation software installed to help facilitate initial medical response. The software, ‘ANA Communication Board’, will include medical terms in various languages, which can be verbalized via the tablets' speakers to aid communication. By October, the software will be able to cover 17 languages in use.
* Registration for this service is voluntary and open only to licensed doctors who are also members of the ANA Mileage Club (AMC). If there are no registered doctors onboard the flights, cabin crews will make the traditional request for any medical professionals onboard to step forward. * Under the new system, any injury or damage claims filed by passengers as a result of medical treatment provided midflight will be handled by ANA, with the exception of cases of willful and gross negligence on the part of the doctor involved. |
Contact: Wataru Yoshioka and Maho Ito, ANA Corporate Communications, TEL +81-3-6735-1111 About ANA
ANA is the largest airline in Japan by revenues and passenger numbers. Founded in 1952, ANA flies today on 83 international routes and 116 domestic routes. The ANA group has 35,000 employees and a fleet of about 250 aircraft. In FY2015, it carried 50.8 million passengers and generated revenues of 1.79 trillion Japanese yen. ANA has been a member of Star Alliance since 1999, and has joint-ventures with United Airlines on trans-Pacific and Asia routes, and with Lufthansa, Swiss International Airlines and Austrian Airlines on Japan-Europe routes. Its Frequent Flyer Program, ANA Mileage Club, has more than 26 million members. ANA was voted Airline of the Year for 2013 by Air Transport World Magazine, and in 2016 was awarded five stars for the fourth consecutive year by the world's leading Airline and Airport review site, SKYTRAX. ANA is the launch customer and biggest operator of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. |
ANA to Introduce ‘ANA Doctor On Board’ Service