Kazunari Watanabe appointed President and CEO of BlueWX

~ANA's Ayako Matsumoto joins the company as outside director, creating a new structure to accelerate a new phase of growth~

BlueWX Inc. (Headquarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo), which aims to realize safe, economical, and carbon-neutral air transport through highly accurate weather forecasting using AI, has appointed Kazunari Watanabe as Representative Director and President from February 1st, and will lead the company's business expansion together with Yoshiaki Miyamoto, Co-Representative Director, Founder, and Chief Technology Officer (CTO). At the same time, Ayako Matsumoto of ANA Holdings Inc., with whom the company has been working on joint development, has become an outside director.

BlueWX, founded in July 2023 as an industry-academia collaboration between ANA and Keio University, aims to develop highly accurate weather forecast models in Japan and global airspace to achieve safe operation, reduced fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, and cost reduction in the aviation industry. These executive appointments will accelerate the company's next phase of growth following Series A funding from external investors announced on January 27, 2025.

After studying aeronautical engineering at the University of Tokyo, Watanabe worked in sales and investment in the civil aviation industry at Marubeni. He then went on to hold consulting positions in a variety of industries and management positions in aviation, retail, manufacturing, and other industries. Most recently, he was a Managing Director and Partner at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he was in charge of implementing corporate transformation. He will utilize his extensive knowledge of the aviation industry and practical experience in implementing corporate transformation to contribute to the further growth of BlueWX.

Mr. Matsumoto joined All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd. (ANA) in 2008 and was in charge of flight support, also known as a ground pilot, and obtained a flight operations manager qualification, coordinating with domestic and international aviation authorities, as well as working on new navigation methods to reduce fuel consumption. After winning the grand prize at the "S-Booster 2017" space business idea contest sponsored by the Cabinet Office, he has been working at ANA Holdings Inc. since 2018, where he is involved in joint research and promoting commercialization to advance the study of space business within the ANA Group.

By combining the technical theory and implementation experience of founder and CTO Miyamoto and his affiliated university at Keio University, Matsumoto and ANA's precise understanding and grasp of aviation operations, and Watanabe's strategic thinking and management and sales experience, we will make a significant contribution to the realization of safety, economy, and carbon neutrality in global air transportation.

Comment from Kazunari Watanabe, CEO of BleuWX Inc.

The air transportation industry is expected to grow 2.5 times larger than it is now in the next quarter century until 2050, but safety, security, low cost, and deoxygenation are becoming increasingly important issues. Furthermore, new forms of air mobility such as drones and flying cars are also appearing.

What all of these have in common is that they are heavily affected by the "weather," the movement and flow of the surrounding air. And since humans cannot control the weather, it is becoming increasingly important to know how to accurately predict it and fly safely and in a fuel-efficient manner.

The weather forecasting technology developed through this industry-academia collaboration between ANA and Keio University is groundbreaking, making full use of the latest AI techniques, and has the potential to contribute to the safety, economy, and environmental friendliness of air transport not only in Japan but also globally. As a team, we would like to "unlock" this potential.

About BlueWX Corporation

Overview: Weather analysis and forecasts, their provision, and content planning, production, and sales of countermeasures using analysis and forecasts

Established: July 2023

Location: Minato Ward, Tokyo

Representative: Kazunari Watanabe, President and CEO

URL: https://www.bluewx.co.jp/

For further inquiries, please contact:

BlueWX Corporation Public Relations Officer (email: contact@bluewx.co.jp )