International airline shutting down, all flights canceled

The start of fall has been a difficult season for a number of smaller and low-cost airlines around the world.

Scandinavian budget carriers Play and Braathens both left travelers across Europe stranded after abruptly shutting down all operations within a few days of each other, while charter airlines Verijet and Kachina Air also filed for bankruptcy in U.S. courts this October.

As a final kicker to round off the month, the United Kingdom-based budget carrier Eastern Airways canceled all of its flights to northern England and Scotland on October 27. While the official documentation submitted to British bankruptcy court asks for more time to restructure, the future of the airline based out of East Midlands looks increasingly bleak as several of its planes have already been returned to their leasing companies.

As all these smaller carriers struggle to stay afloat in Europe, an Asian airline giant has also made the choice to axe one of its brands.

More commonly referred to by the acronym ANA, Japan’s largest airline All Nippon Airways is discontinuing the low-cost AirJapan brand it launched only in 2022.

Established to compete with newly launched low-cost airline Zipair Tokyo, AirJapan flew a fleet of two Boeing 787-8 planes to Tokyo’s Narita Airport (NRT) from Singapore, Seoul, and Bangkok.

On Oct. 30, ANA revealed it will shut down the airline to instead operate only as a dual brand with the wider ANA and its more established low-cost airline Peach Aviation.

Related: Low-cost airline cancels all flights, no refunds

Ultimately, competition from other Asian low-cost airlines such as Singapore Airlines’ Scoot and AirAsia X left AirJapan struggling to bring in the passenger numbers to justify the need for a separate brand.

Last August, Australian low-cost carrier Jetstar similarly shut down its Asia branch due to high expenses and supply-chain problems, relative to insufficient traffic.

AirJapan’s plans to expand to new routes were also hampered by delays of new Boeing 737 Max orders (when these do get delivered, they will instead go to the needs of ANA).

In a statement on the brand consolidation, the ANA Group said the decision aims to better “optimize the allocation of the group’s resources.”

• Ravn Alaska: Ceased operations in August 2025 after earlier Chapter 11 proceedings; shut down flights and folded into other operations.

• Spirit Airlines: Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time on August 29, 2025.

• Play Airlines: Filed for bankruptcy procedures in Iceland on September 29, 2025, canceled all flights.

• Braathens Airlines: Filed for bankruptcy for its Airbus operations in Sweden on September 30, 2025.

• Verijet: Filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in October 2025, canceled all flights and ceased operations.

• Kachina Air, Inc.: Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on October 24, 2025.

The three routes will be phased out by March 2026, with the final flights back to Narita in Tokyo running on March 29.

More on travel:

“While we have operated flights under both the AirJapan and ANA brands, we will operate ANA branded flights exclusively from the next fiscal year onward,” ANA announced on Oct. 30. “We appreciate your loyal patronage until the final day of AirJapan brand’s operations.”

On its website, AirJapan states that travelers will be able to continue booking up until the final flights, while anyone who has already booked travel beyond March 2026 will receive a full refund.

“No special procedures are required,” AirJapan advises travelers who have existing bookings before that date. “Please board your flight as scheduled.”

Related: Airlines offer stranded travelers rescue fares after sudden shutdown

This story was originally reported by TheStreet on Oct 31, 2025, where it first appeared in the Travel section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.