Koji Shibata, President and CEO of ANA Holdings Inc.

The environment nurtures people. Always strive to change the environment.

President and CEO of ANA Holdings Inc.　Koji Shibata(Shibata Koji)

■ Profile
President and CEO of Asia's leading airline group. Originally from Kakeroma Island in the Amami Islands, he developed a longing for the world as a child, spending his time watching the many foreign ships that visit the island and the vast sky. After joining ANA, he has mainly worked in the international field, and has contributed to the expansion of ANA's international routes.

President Shibata is originally from Kakeroma Island in Kagoshima Prefecture. His flight from the island to the world is like an airplane taking off. His challenge to the world, which began with his experience as a Ministry of Foreign Affairs overseas mission dispatch officer (hereafter referred to as "dispatched officer") at the Embassy of Japan in China (Beijing) during his student days, is still ongoing. We spoke to President Shibata, who is at the forefront of this endeavor, about the future of the ANA Group.

■The era of university students becoming diplomats!?

I was born on Kakeroma Island in Kagoshima Prefecture. I moved to Tokyo when it was time to go to university and enrolled in the Chinese language department at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. During my university life, I was so absorbed in club activities that I would attend classes wearing my karate uniform.
He retired as captain of the karate club around November of his third year at university, but an encounter with a certain teacher changed his life. "If you're in the Chinese language department, people will assume you can speak Chinese. Why don't you put some effort into your studies?" This encouragement from his respected teacher sparked his motivation to study, and he ended up working as a dispatched staff member at the Embassy of Japan in China.
One day, while strolling around the university campus, I happened upon a job posting at the Embassy of Japan in China and applied. I decided to take two years off from university and work at the Embassy of Japan in China. Just like a working adult, dispatched staff work about eight hours a day on weekdays, spending their time studying after work. I continued to study Chinese for two years, making use of newspapers that arrive at the embassy from all over China, and I was able to improve my language skills. I also believe that working as a dispatched staff member at the embassy was a great benefit as it allowed me to experience and learn firsthand the workings of Japanese society.

■To make my dream come true, I joined ANA, my dream company

When I returned to Japan from China, it was March of my third year of university, and I was about to start job hunting. After that, I received inquiries from many companies that had branches in China, but I didn't hear back from ANA, which I had a special attachment to. So, at my wit's end, I called the person in charge at ANA and asked, "Do you know me?" (laughs).
Of course, I had no way of knowing. At the time, ANA did not have scheduled flights overseas and did not have an office in China. When I was in Beijing, I happened to see an ANA flight attendant visiting China on a charter flight, and I was moved by the memory of my hometown, Kagoshima Airport in Japan. For the people of Kagoshima Prefecture at the time, ANA was synonymous with airlines, and they held a special attachment to the airline. When I saw the same dazzling flight attendants at the Beijing airport as I had seen at Kagoshima Airport, I felt a longing and yearning for my distant hometown. In addition, ANA was just beginning to move towards launching scheduled international flights, and I wanted to help with that.
The ANA Group is a company with a very open atmosphere. An open atmosphere also means you can do what you want. I joined the company because I wanted to be involved in the launch of scheduled international flights, and in my second year I was quickly assigned to the International Department. In the International Department, I built up a track record of charter flights in preparation for the launch of scheduled flights and set up branches. Then, in 1986, my fifth year at the company, we became the first Japanese airline to launch scheduled flights to Guam, Los Angeles, and Washington, and I believe I grew as a person along with ANA, which was still feeling its way around.

■What we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic

The aviation industry has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, sales were around 2 trillion yen, of which aviation operations accounted for about 90%. Most of that has come to a halt.
Going forward, we will focus not only on the aviation business but also on non-aviation businesses. In addition to the services we have provided as an airline, we will also be working to address environmental issues by utilizing domestically produced SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel), which is said to be sustainable aviation fuel. We also plan to expand our business operations in the future, such as ANA GranWhale, which utilizes the metaverse space that combines the real and virtual worlds, and Avatarin's newme, which expands the possibilities of travel.
In this way, overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic has made us more conscious of risk hedging in the event that our core aviation business performs poorly. Furthermore, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we were conscious of "squatting down thoroughly," drastically reducing the number of aircraft owned by our company and taking measures such as temporary wage cuts while protecting employment, helping our employees overcome the situation together. We have now resumed hiring, and we plan to proactively secure personnel in line with production volume. Teamwork is vital for an airline. Improving individual skills is a given, but we also want to actively hire people who can "subtly" improve the skills of their colleagues.

＊message＊

"Environment shapes people," so make an effort to change your environment. People try to adapt to their current environment. Imagine mountain climbing, for example. You gradually increase the altitude and allow your body to get used to it. In the same way, place yourself at a level a little higher than where you are now. This will gradually become normal. Then, challenge yourself to reach an even higher level. Continuing this effort to climb will lead to individual growth. Rather than continuing to do the same thing, I think it's good to have the mindset of gaining new experiences, even if only little by little.

Student Newspaper, October 1, 2023 Issue, Seijo University, 10rd Year, Moe Ogasawara