All Nippon Airways (NH), Japan’s flag-carrying titan and the largest airline in the country, has long operated its aircraft as instruments of cultural diplomacy as much as commercial transport. On May 28, 2026, the Tokyo-based carrier unveiled the livery designs for two of its three forthcoming Pokémon anniversary jets — the “Pokémon Jet Red” and “Pokémon Jet Green” — in a milestone that marks three decades of an extraordinary partnership with The Pokémon Company and coincides with ANA’s 40th year of international flight operations.
The announcement confirms that the Red livery, applied to a Boeing 787-8 (registration JA819A), will enter domestic service from late July 2026, while the Green livery, assigned to a Boeing 787-9 (registration JA923A), will fly international routes on a date to be confirmed. A third aircraft, the “Pokémon Jet Blue,” a Boeing 737-800, is confirmed but its livery has not yet been publicly disclosed.
ANA’s 1998 Pokémon Debut
In July 1998, ANA unveiled the world’s first Pokémon Jets, timed to coincide with the release of Pokémon: The First Movie. The inaugural aircraft was a Boeing 747-400D, registered JA8965, and its full-body Pokémon livery — depicting a parade of franchise characters across a white fuselage — was unlike anything the commercial aviation world had seen at the time.
Two additional jets — both Boeing 767-300s — were painted later in 1998 with the same design, carrying registration numbers JA8569 and JA8578. This first set of liveries was retired in 2001. Yet the appetite of both ANA and its passengers for themed aircraft proved insatiable. The airline continued to introduce new Pokémon iterations across subsequent years, cycling through Boeing 747-400Ds, 767-300s, a 777-300, and eventually the Dreamliner family.
As such, the carrier has painted 11 aircraft in special Pokémon promotional liveries over the years prior to the 2026 announcement, the first of which was unveiled in 1998. In the years that followed, ANA additionally painted:
- four Boeing 767-300s
- one Boeing 747-400
- three Boeing 747-400Ds
- one Boeing 777-300
- one Boeing 787-9.
The Pikachu Jumbo Era From 2004 to 2013
By the mid-2000s, ANA had refined its approach to themed aircraft, deploying them not merely as press-release fodder but as calculable drivers of domestic passenger interest. The ANA Pikachu Jumbo, coloured in a distinctive yellow, flew for the first time in May 2004 between Osaka and Tokyo. Its companion, the “Ohana Jumbo” — whose name translates to “flower” in Japanese and which depicted Grass-type Pokémon and the Pichu Brothers across its fuselage — entered service the same year on the same route.
Both aircraft served Japanese domestic networks for nearly a decade before operational retirement. The Pikachu Jumbo livery was retired on October 8, 2013, along with the Ohana Jumbo, as both aircraft retired from service, ending the Boeing 747’s decade-long title as the series flagship. This retirement also marked the effective conclusion of ANA’s first Pokémon era — the airline would not produce a new Pokémon livery for a further decade, returning to the franchise only in 2023.
Pokémon’s Modern Renaissance At ANA: The Pikachu Jet NH and Eevee Jet NH (2023)
Following the hiatus between 2016 and 2023, ANA and The Pokémon Company resumed their collaboration with the launch of the Pikachu Jet NH on June 4, 2023, as part of the Pokémon Air Adventures project. The Pokémon Air Adventures initiative — known in Japan as the Flying Pikachu Project — was conceived as a multi-airline, multi-country programme aimed at promoting global exploration through Pokémon-themed travel experiences.
The “Pikachu Jet NH” aircraft features a livery designed for ANA in which the Sky High Pokémon Rayquaza is depicted across the entire fuselage. Charizard, Latias, Latios, Vivillon, and other flying-type Pokémon from across the franchise move together with Pikachu toward the nose of the aircraft. Pokémon are also hidden inside the engine housings.
Weeks after the Pikachu Jet NH entered service, ANA and The Pokémon Company announced the Eevee Jet NH, a Boeing 777-300ER (registration JA784A). The Eevee Jet NH entered commercial service on August 31, 2023, operating international routes to London, New York, and San Francisco.
The Eevee Jet NH livery depicts Eevee and its evolutions — including Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Flareon — moving forward into the future alongside Pikachu. In a statement marking the Eevee Jet’s launch, ANA outlined:
“The ANA Group believes in connecting people and communities through travel and is delighted to introduce the ‘Eevee Jet NH’ along with the ‘Pikachu Jet NH,’ with shared hopes to rekindle the delight of travelling.”
The immersive in-cabin experience common to both jets includes:
- Pokémon-themed headrest antimacassars in economy and premium economy
- Branded paper cups and napkins
- Flight attendant aprons featuring Pokémon character designs
- Commemorative boarding certificates for passengers
- Pokémon-themed in-flight safety video, extended in December 2024 to all ANA domestic and international flights
Both the Pikachu Jet NH and the Eevee Jet NH are scheduled to be repainted in base colours in 2028.
Pokémon Jet Red And Green on the 30th-Anniversary Trilogy
The event that repositions ANA’s livery evolution as a living, ongoing story arrived on May 28, 2026. On that date, ANA unveiled the designs for the first two of three planned anniversary jets: “Pokémon Jet Red” and “Pokémon Jet Green“. The announcement, carried simultaneously on ANA’s official channels and across global aviation media, confirmed what enthusiasts had anticipated since the February 2026 initial announcement: three connected aircraft liveries, each referencing a classic first-generation Game Boy title.
Pokémon Jet Red
The Pokémon Jet Red is a Boeing 787-8, registered as JA819A. Ten unique Fire-type Pokémon feature from nose to tail along both sides of the aircraft, including Charmander, Fuecoco, and Tepig. Inside the cabin, Fire-type Pokémon appear on printed headrest antimacassars and on service items such as cups and napkins.
The aircraft is scheduled to enter domestic service from late July 2026, operating routes from Tokyo Haneda International Airport (HND) to Sapporo (New Chitose Airport, CTS), Hakodate, Osaka (Itami Airport, ITM), Takamatsu, Matsuyama, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Kagoshima, Okinawa (Naha Airport, OKA), Miyako, and Ishigaki. It will also connect Osaka Itami to Sapporo, Okinawa, Miyako, and Ishigaki.
Pokémon Jet Green
The Pokémon Jet Green livery is applied to a Boeing 787-9, registration JA923A, and will operate international routes. Its service launch date had not been confirmed as of the May 28, 2026 unveiling.
Pokémon Jet Blue
A third aircraft, the Pokémon Jet Blue, will be a Boeing 737-800 focused on domestic services. No design details or service commencement date had been disclosed as of late May 2026.
ANA will operate the new Pokémon Jets on both domestic and international routes for the first time in approximately ten years. The three designs are intended to connect thematically, telling a cohesive narrative that spans the three aircraft — a structural ambition that distinguishes this cohort from any previous ANA livery programme.
ANA’s Pokémon Jets in Regional Context
The breadth of the Pokémon Air Adventures initiative extends well beyond ANA and provides important context for understanding why the 2026 anniversary jets carry such weight. ANA’s relationship with Pokémon has, over the years, inspired a notable wave of imitators across the Asia-Pacific region.
Other airlines across Asia — including China Airlines of Taiwan, Korean carrier T’Way Air (recently renamed Trinity Airways), and Garuda Indonesia — have also sported Pokémon-themed liveries in recent years. Scoot of Singapore became the first non-Japanese airline to introduce a Pokémon Jet in 2022. Though ANA’s use of these liveries ended in 2016, the scheme was subsequently revived by Solaseed Air in 2020, and by Air Do and Skymark Airlines in 2021.
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