Yesterday, United Airline’s first Boeing 787 Dreamliner took off from Paine Field on its first test flight. Luckily Malcolm Muir and Boeing were there to catch some great photos.
The three hour flight took the 787 over Washington state and northern Oregon before heading back to Paine Field. During the flight, Boeing crew members put the 787’s systems through multiple tests.
United is expected to take delivery of its first of 50 Dreamliners in late September.
United’s first 787 takes off from Paine Field. Image from United.
And we have lift off. Image from United.
United’s first 787 returns to Paine Field on August 19th. Image by Malcolm Muir.
United’s 787 touches down in Everett. Image by Malcolm Muir.
United’s 787 Taxiing at Paine Field. Image by Malcolm Muir.
A Wind Jet Airbus A319. Image by Daniel Blok / Flickr CC.
Try not to get too attached to this Wind Jet livery — the airline ceased operations on August 11, 2012.
The Italian-based airline was founded in 2003 and operated scheduled service in Italy and to destinations in Europe, to Egypt and seasonally to Israel.
Wind Jet operated a fleet of five Airbus A319s and seven Airbus A320s in an all economy format.
In January 2012, Alitalia started the process of merging with Wind Jet. The Italian antitrust authority gave Alitialia authorization to move forward, but were told they would have to give up slots on some of their most important routes. Altalia decided to pull out of the merger and Wind Jet was not able to stay in business.
I have to say that I love this livery. The orange nose, engines and tail go well together. It is not just any livery that can pull off a white body and colored nose. Too bad it will be flying no longer.
Whoa, Virgin American got President Obama and Romney (impersonators) to join in on the flight. Image from Virgin America.
When most airlines start a new route, they might send out a boring press release to announce it to the world, but not Virgin America. The airline has a history of making a party out of each of their new destinations and their new route from San Fransisco (SFO) to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) is no different.
Sure, Virgin America has been flying into DC for a while, but only to Dulles International Airport (IAD), not DCA.
Previously, there were no direct flights from SFO to DCA via any airline, due to restrictions on destinations more than 1,250 miles away. The recent FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (click that link if you want 300 pages of amazing reading), authorized the DOT to award a limited number of new flights to domestic airports located farther away. In May, United Airlines started flying the route non-stop and now Virgin America is the only other competition.
So what gimmick was Virgin American going to have for this inaugural? They had Always Sunny in Philadelphia for their PHL flight, Rat Pack for Palm Springs, Boxing with Chicago and just plain awesome with Toronto — which is no longer an active route for the airline. This is an election year and the flight is going to DC, so why not involve politics? The airline had presidential impersonators Jim Gossett as ’œMitt’ and Reggie Brown as ’œBarack’ on the flight.
Use your smart phone to scan the QR code on RED and register to vote. Image from Virgin America.
This trip was not just a party, but also an effort to get more people registered to vote. Virgin America has partnered with Rock the Vote and passengers are able to register to vote using the airline’s in-flight entertainment system and their smart phones.
“We the people get to decide who will be flying to DC next year as our representatives, but no matter who you are voting for this November, you have to be registered first,’ said Heather Smith, President of Rock The Vote. ’œRock the Vote is thrilled to bring voter registration to Virgin America’s guests as well as the opportunity to make a donation to support our efforts to register 1.5 million new voters and educate young Americans about participating in our democracy.”
Virgin America currently serves 18 destinations, a fleet of 52 Airbus A320-family aircraft and over 2,600 employees.
SEE MORE PHOTOS OF THE INAUGURAL FLIGHT ON VIRGIN AMERICA’S FACEBOOK
You cannot have a delivery ceremony without a ribbon cutting. Image from Boeing.
Yesterday, Ethiopian Airlines took delivery of their first Boeing 787 Dreamliner at Paine Field in Everett, WA. The aircraft is named “Africa First.”
“Today begins the first day in a new era of flying for our passengers and brings us even closer to our vision for the future, Vision 2025,” said Tewolde GebreMariam, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines. “We are pleased to be the first airline in the world outside Japan to receive this technologically advanced aircraft. We have been waiting for this airplane and now that we officially have it and will show it to the world, I can say with pride, it was worth the wait. This airplane is going to move Ethiopian Airlines to the forefront of aviation leadership around the globe.”
Ethiopian’s Cloud Nine (Business Class) cabin on the 787. Image from Ethiopian Airlines.
The aircraft landed in Washington DC and will continue heading west to Bole Addis Ababa International Airport (ADD) in Ethiopia tomorrow.
“Today marks not just another milestone for Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines, but a new beginning in our 65-year partnership,” said Van Rex Gallard, vice president of Sales for Africa, Latin America, & Caribbean, Boeing Commercial Airplanes during the delivery ceremony. “Ethiopian Airlines continues to show their strong leadership in African aviation and their growing presence around the globe. Being the first in Africa and one of the first in the world further confirms their position globally.”
A flight attendant in the 787’s economy class. Image from Ethiopian Airlines.
Ethiopian is the first non-Japanese airline to take delivery of the Dreamliner and they have nine additional 787s on order. The airline will begin daily flights between DC and Addis Ababa using the 787 on October 20th, a route that is currently operated by a Boeing 777-200LR.
Ethiopians 787 is laid out with 24 seats in Cloud Nine and 246 seats in economy.
Ethiopian’s first 787 at Paine Field yesterday. Photo by Boeing.
ADDITIONAL ETHIOPIAN BOEING 787 PHOTOS:
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What WestJet’s new Bombarider Q400 will look like. Image from Bombardier.
WestJet has announced their plan to start a regional airline using Bombardier Q400s. This is by no means breaking news, but a story that somehow I missed and have been playing catch up and wanted to share some of the things that I have learned.
For those of you who might not be aware of WestJet, they are a low cost carrier, based at Calgary International Airport (YYC) in Alberta, Canada. Previously, they only operated a fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft in an all-economy layout.
In January of this year, WestJet stated that they were looking into starting up a smaller subset of their almost 100 fleet of 737s. At the time, WestJet President and CEO, Gregg Saretsky, stated, “A short-haul aircraft combined with WestJet’s brand, balance sheet strength and low-cost structure will allow WestJet to profitably accomplish four main goals: Introduce WestJet’s friendly and caring service to many smaller communities who have asked for our service; optimize the size of aircraft to efficiently increase frequency; create new connections between existing WestJet markets; and build additional feed to our current 71-city network so that we can continue to profitably grow and add shareholder value.”
The airline’s management talked with employees and in February, the airline announced that 91% of employees voted in favor to launch the regional airline. I would imagine that WestJet employees do not have a union is one reason the high number.
Then, the fun part came; which aircraft to buy? Although the photos of the Bombardier Q400 in WestJet livery on this story gives away the answer, they were also considering the ATR 72-600.
What WestJet’s new Bombarider Q400 will look like. Image from Bombardier.
“We are very impressed with the Q400,” Saretsky stated in a press release. “Both ATR and Bombardier put forward excellent proposals and ultimately we believe the Bombardier Q400’s combination of range, speed and seat density is the best choice to meet the needs of the market and how we plan to operate the regional airline.”
WestJet signed a letter of intent to purchase 20 Q400s with the option to purchase an additional 25 aircraft. The airline hopes to start regional service in 2013.
I was curious how the new Q400s would operate in the WestJet fleet and would there be a different customer service product on the Q400?
“The two airlines will operate under separate certificates. However, they will both be WestJet in every respect — culture, guest experience and even livery,” Robert Palmer, spokesperson for WestJet explained to AirlineReporter.com.
The Q400s will be used on flights lasting about one to two hours and the 737s will fly on longer routes. Both airlines will cover domestic and trans-boarder flying and the Q400s will act as a feeder system for the mainline 737s. Palmer also stated that the Q400s might be placed on current routes that have less demand and free up a 737 for additional service.
On top of starting regional service, WestJet has also stated that they will start offering premium economy seating. Each aircraft will have four rows of seats with 36″ of seat pitch and the addition of priority boarding and complimentary on-board amenities.
With Southwest Airlines flying to larger airports and bringing on the 737-800, Allegiant going from one aircraft type to three and WestJet adding regional service and premium seating, it is anyone’s guess what these low cost carriers will do next.
