ANA to Enhance Airport Communication Services with New Interactive Translator “POCKETALK®“

All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan’s largest and 5-Star airline for seven consecutive years, is bringing the advanced interactive translator POCKETALK® produced by SOURCENEXT to Japanese airports in order to help ANA ground staff and international passengers better communicate. The first POCKETALK® devices will be featured at the lobby and boarding gates of Osaka International Itami Airport starting on December 18, and a total of 200 devices will be featured across all 50 domestic Japanese airports. The introduction of POCKETALK® is the latest effort by ANA to stay at the cutting edge of technological innovation.

POCKETALK® is a portable real-time language translator that will enable ANA ground staff in domestic airports to communicate with all of its passengers instantly and naturally - no matter what language they speak. It has the ability to translate up to 74*1 languages including various dialects and commonly used idiomatic phrases. By using this device, ANA staff will be better equipped to communicate with passengers in situations where a linguistic barrier may have previously existed.

“ANA is constantly looking for opportunities to improve the passenger’s travel experience, and that includes taking steps to make our service at airports as inclusive and convenient as possible,” said Masaki Yokai, Senior Vice President of ANA. “Our commitment to service and Japanese hospitality has inspired us to look at innovative ways to use technology to enhance the passenger experience. Providing POCKETALK® to our staff will simplify communication with global travelers and allow them to better meet passenger needs.”

The use of POCKETALK® is the latest effort by ANA to highlight its commitment to reducing barriers and creating a more connected world.

*1 Out of 74 languages, 55 languages are translated into speech and text, while the other 19 languages are translated into text. (As of November 2019)
For more information, please refer to the webpage: https://www.pocketalk.net/ 

About ANA
Following the “Inspiration of Japan” high quality of service, ANA has been awarded the respected 5-Star rating every year since 2013 from SKYTRAX. ANA is the only Japanese airline to win this prestigious designation seven years in a row. Additionally, ANA has been recognized by Air Transport World as “Airline of the Year” three times in the past 10 years - 2007, 2013 and 2018, becoming one of the few airlines winning this prestigious award for multiple times.

ANA was founded in 1952 with two helicopters and has become the largest airline in Japan, as well as one of the most significant airlines in Asia, operating 82 international routes and 118 domestic routes. ANA offers a unique dual hub model which enables passengers to travel to Tokyo and connect through the two airports in the metropolitan Tokyo, NARITA and HANEDA, to various destinations throughout Japan, and also offers same day connections between various North American, Asian and Chinese cities.

ANA has been a member of Star Alliance since 1999 and has joint venture partnerships with United Airlines, Lufthansa German Airlines, Swiss International Airlines and Austrian Airlines.

Besides the full service and award winner carrier ANA, the ANA Group has two LCCs as consolidated subsidiaries, Vanilla Air Inc. and Peach Aviation Limited. The ANA Group carried 54.4 million passengers in FY2018, has approximately 43,000 employees and a fleet of 260 aircraft. ANA is a proud launch customer and the biggest operator of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

For more information, please refer to the following link: https://www.ana.co.jp/group/en/