, also known as ANA (Ē-enu-ē) or is an airline in Japan. Its headquarters are located in Shiodome City Center in the Shiodome area of Minato ward of Tokyo. It operates services to both domestic and international destinations and had more than 20,000 employees as of March 2016. In addition to its mainline operations, ANA controls several subsidiary passenger carriers, including its regional airline, ANA Wings, Air Nippon, Air Do (a low-cost carrier operating scheduled service between Tokyo and cities in Hokkaido), and Allex Cargo (ANA Cargo - the freighter division operated by Air Japan). ANA is also the largest shareholder in Peach, a low-cost carrier joint venture with Hong Kong company First Eastern Investment Group. In October 1999, the airline became a member of Star Alliance. On 29 March 2013, ANA was named a 5-Star Airline by Skytrax. On 27 April 2018, ANA announced ANA Business Jet Co., Ltd., a joint venture with Sojitz to offer private jet charter flights. History Formation ANA's earliest ancestor was (also known as Nippon Helicopter and Aeroplane), an airline company founded on 27 December 1952. Nippon Helicopter was the source of what would later be ANA's International Air Transport Association (IATA) airline code, NH. NH began helicopter services in February 1953. On 15 December 1953, it operated its first cargo flight between Osaka and Tokyo using a de Havilland Dove, JA5008. This was the first scheduled flight flown by a Japanese pilot in postwar Japan. Passenger service on the same route began on 1 February 1954, and was upgraded to a de Havilland Heron in March. In 1955, Douglas DC-3s began flying for NH as well, by which time the airline's route network extended from northern Kyūshū to Sapporo. In December 1957 Nippon Helicopter changed its name to All Nippon Airways Company. ANA's other ancestor was . Although it was founded on 26 December 1952, one day before Nippon Helicopter, it did not begin operations until 20 January 1954, when it began night cargo runs between Osaka and Tokyo, also using a de Havilland Dove. It adopted the DC-3 in early 1957, by which point its route network extended through southern Japan from Tokyo to Kagoshima. Far East Airlines merged with the newly named All Nippon Airways in March 1958. The combined companies had a total market capitalization of 600 million yen, and the result of the merger was Japan's largest private airline.