ANA To resume 787 service on the Seattle to Tokyo flights from Fall 2013 – Image: All Nippon Airways
Today All Nippon Airways (ANA) announced that as of the 20th of September 2013, they will be returning the 787 Dreamliner to its daily service from Tokyo’s Narita Airport (NRT) to Seattle (SEA).
The service was started on October 1st 2012, when ANA was the first commercial operator to service Seattle with a 787. However, the route was cancelled after the grounding and battery fire dramas. On the 1st of June the service to Seattle resumed, but a Boeing 777-300ER was used instead. With the resumption of daily flights to Seattle this adds a second daily 787 service to North America with daily flights on the Tokyo to San Jose route as well (which will begin daily service on the 10th July).
ANA’s Boeing 787 arrives at SEA to a water cannon salute. Photo by Mal Muir / AirlineReporter.com.
The announcement of the 787 return to Seattle also came along with other route updates and changes. ANA will be increasing their flights to Chicago by adding a second daily service, using a Boeing 777, to help support the growing demand between Asia and North America.
In addition, ANA will also add extra destinations for the 787 to Singapore (Oct 1) and Munich (Sept 1).
An ANA 787 being serviced at SeaTac Airport- Photo: Mal Muir | AirlineReporter.com
As ANA increases the number of international cities it serves with the Boeing 787 to eight, this is a sign that the they are moving away from the previous Dreamliner drama. I would expect that as ANA continues to take deliveries of the 787, we will be hearing about future new destinations soon.
This seems to be mixed news. It’s an aviation geek’s and traveler’s preference to have the 787 Dreamliner. (A lot of us AvGeeks have been enjoying seeing the Dreamliners here in San Jose.) But the 777-300ER currently flying the NRT-SEA route is bigger. So the change to a 787 is a reduction in seats on the route. That may seem negative, except this route was originally supposed to use the 787. I think it comes down to having a higher priority for the larger 777 to Chicago. So overall, even though the extra details didn’t add clarity, I guess it’s still good news.
It’s a good thing trust me. The 787 is perfect for this route. If you saw just how many people were on my flight from NRT-SEA (review upcoming) you would see that a smaller aircraft is better. The 787 has that unique ability to take a smaller amount of people on the longer haul routes that the other aircraft can’t. So the “Long/Thin” routes of which SEA-NRT most definately is at the moment, makes an ideal commitment.
Plus those 777-300ER’s have a crazy amount of Business class seats (even higher than what the 787 has) and such a larger aircraft probably burns way more fuel and costs way to much on this route.
Plus along with this announcement there is some very nicely priced NH fares to Beijing from Chicago.. so might be a good way to try out their flights for those who want to!
Yeah, filling the seats (load factor) is the key issue. As long as the route is a commercial success for ANA, then it’s a win-win in the long run.