Vanilla Air's story ended in a staged integration with Peach, not an overnight bankruptcy shutdown. Its name change in November 2013, own-brand flight launch in December 2013, final flights on 26 October 2019 and Peach's later completion entry are different milestones.
For a traveller looking at an old ticket or photograph, that sequence is more useful than a single “closed” date. This history was checked against eight ANA Group and Peach primary records on 12 November 2026. It distinguishes announced plans from later confirmation.
November 2013: the name changes before the flights begin
The company section of ANA's 2014 annual report states that Vanilla Air Inc. was renamed from AirAsia Japan Co., Ltd. as of 1 November 2013. That gives a dated corporate-name milestone. It is not the start of flying under the Vanilla brand.
The same annual-report table identifies Vanilla Air within the ANA Group. It should be read as a dated company record, not as a current list of active airlines. This account does not use the old AirAsia Japan name to combine every later airline that used similar branding into one company.
20 December 2013: Vanilla-branded service starts
An ANA report dated 13 February 2019 describes celebrations on 20 December 2018 marking five years since Vanilla Air's inaugural Narita-Okinawa flight in 2013. A later integration retrospective also explicitly records 20 December 2013 as the entry-into-service date and links the Taiwan route to that start.
The name-change date and the flight-launch date therefore answer different questions. A reader can remember November for the corporate name and 20 December for the own-brand start without forcing the two into one anniversary.
Its Narita base mattered to the later combination: ANA's integration account contrasts Vanilla's Tokyo-metropolitan presence with Peach's Kansai base. That is the historical rationale in the group account, not a promise about which airport is best for a family's new itinerary.
2018: an announced combination and preparation
The 22 March 2018 ANA announcement set out a process toward combining Peach and Vanilla, with Peach as the basis of the integrated operation. It was a future plan. It did not mean Vanilla flights ended that day.
The 23 October 2018 Peach release then announced executive assignments at Vanilla effective 2 November 2018, while the executives retained their Peach roles. The release described these as steps toward integration scheduled for fiscal 2019. Shared leadership was preparation, not evidence that all flight operations had already become one.
Route transfers did not preserve every old flight unchanged
The joint 17 December 2018 operating-plan release said Vanilla Air flights would end on 26 October 2019 and that routes and frequencies would reduce gradually through the summer schedule while Peach took over parts of the network.
Its route table includes different transfer dates, gaps before some Peach starts, and routes marked abolished. The right reading is staged network change, not a guarantee that every Vanilla route, frequency and airport combination continued unchanged under Peach.
That distinction matters even in a historical article. A route inherited in 2019 is not evidence that it is available on a family's intended travel date now. The old table is not a live timetable or a fare offer.
26 and 27 October 2019: the operational handover
In a 27 December 2019 retrospective, ANA records Vanilla Air's final flights on 26 October. It describes a farewell ceremony before JW103, the last departure from Narita to Taipei, and the use of an Airbus A320. The flight reference is the final Narita departure described by the source, not a claim here to have independently reconstructed the last aircraft movement across the whole network.
The same retrospective describes a new Peach organisation beginning its next step on 27 October, with a ceremony at Narita. That is an operational changeover story, distinct from a later corporate-history completion entry.
The ANA 2020 annual report confirms that aircraft and staff transferred in stages, operational integration was complete by the end of October and 10 former Vanilla routes transferred to Peach. Its account includes pilots, cabin crew, maintenance staff and other employees becoming part of Peach's operations.
1 November 2019: Peach's integration-completion entry
A Peach release dated 13 March 2020, in its company overview and history attachment, records completion of integration with Vanilla Air on 1 November 2019. The final-flight date, next-day Peach operations and this completion milestone should not be collapsed into one date.
The records support the broad completed-integration account. This article does not turn “completed integration” into an independently verified exact legal-dissolution day, nor does it invent a bankruptcy order. No such legal endpoint is established here.
It is also wrong to attribute the October 2019 end of Vanilla-branded operations to a later pandemic shutdown simply because the 2020 annual report discusses pandemic effects elsewhere. The report's subsequent industry context does not change the chronology of the 2019 integration.
Use old names to understand history, not today's ticket terms
The short version is:1 November 2013 name change;20 December 2013 own-brand service;2018 integration plan and preparations;26 October 2019 final flights;27 October operational changeover described by ANA; and 1 November integration completion recorded by Peach.
An old Vanilla booking does not establish present-day baggage, refund, meal, connection or change-fee conditions. Nor does a historical route transfer guarantee current availability. Read the actual new booking rather than using an archive as today's rulebook.
For a new family holiday, private-tour planning can begin with the dates and destinations you want now. Share the itinerary and support needs through the trip-planning page. This history does not sell a separate Vanilla Air service or promise flights in a TripKeeper package.
Sources and illustration
Checked 12 November 2026. Eight primary records below cover corporate naming, launch, planned transfers, actual final-flight reporting and completed integration. Exact legal dissolution and the last aircraft movement across all routes are not independently established here. The hero is a fictional AI illustration, not real aircraft, accurate liveries or a final-flight photograph.
- ANA 2014 annual-report company section: AirAsia Japan renamed Vanilla Air 1 November 2013
- ANA 13 February 2019 anniversary report:20 December 2013 inaugural service
- ANA 22 March 2018 integration announcement: process and intended Peach-based combination
- Peach 23 October 2018 release: shared executive appointments as preparation, not completion
- Peach/Vanilla 17 December 2018 release: planned 26 October 2019 end and staged route transfers including closures
- ANA 27 December 2019 retrospective: 26 October final flight from Narita and 27 October new Peach operations
- ANA 2020 annual report: operational integration completed by end October 2019, staff and routes transferred
- Peach 13 March 2020 release company-history attachment: integration completed 1 November 2019
A Miranda House graduate and lawyer who traded courtrooms for slow travel. Cheshta travels with the batches we host ourselves, with a soft spot for travelling alongside elders.
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