Although the official paperwork has been signed, Boeing and JAL will not celebrate the delivery until tomorrow morning. There are some smaller media events today (ie tour of the 787 flight simulator), but the main event will start at about 9:30am PT on Monday and last until Noon. You are invited to follow along with the delivery adventure via Twitter; be sure to follow #JAL787, @AirlineReporter, @FlightBlogger and of course @BoeingAirplanes.
UPDATE: Boeing confirmed that they delivered two 787 Dreamliners to JAL on the 25th.
Do you have what it takes at 30,000 feet? Photo by Air New Zealand.
FORE! What do you get when you have a fun-spirited airline, like Air New Zealand (ANZ) sponsoring a sporting event like the NZ PGA Pro-Am Championship? You get to test your putting skills at 30,000 feet… that is what.
Starting yesterday, ANZ started their 30,000ft In-Flight Putting Challenge. It is exclusively on board their Airbus A320 aircraft that is painted in All Blacks livery (ZK-OAB), flying between Auckland and Queenstown.
Four passengers on each flight will be able to strut their stuff and put down the aisle for a chance to win a variety of golfing prizes. The one passengers who does the best overall during this week will win a VIP trip to the actual championship.
Putting on the ground is one thing. Trying it while in an airplane at 30,000 feet is another. Photos from Air New Zealand.
’œAt Air New Zealand we’re crazy about rugby on the outside of our planes and we’re crazy about golf on the inside,” James Gibson, Air New Zealand’s Head of Sponsorship stated. “This world-first for entertainment onboard is sure to show off some skills and provide a few thrills for passengers traveling on the all black A320 over the next few days.”
How can you not like fun airborne promotions like this? I have a hard enough time at my local putt-putt golf course on the solid ground, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like at 30,000 feet with a little bit of turbulence.
Photos and the leaderboard are up on ANZ’s theflyingsocialnetwork.com site. Currently the person in the lead was able to make her hole in one at six feet. Let’s see if that can be surpassed.
A little over a year ago, on March 20, 2011, the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental had her first flight. This video from Boeing highlights how the 747 has revolutionized long-haul flight and how they hope that the Intercontinental continues that tradition.
HI RES IMAGE (click for larger). JAL Boeing 787 Dreamliner at Paine Field. Photo by Boeing.
Japan Airlines (JAL) announced today that they plan to take official delivery of their first 787 Dreamliner this Sunday, March 25th, with a delivery ceremony to follow on the 26th. The aircraft is then scheduled to take off from Paine Field at about 4pm local time on Monday to head to Narita in Tokyo with JAL pilots at the controls.
The airline plans to start operating their first Dreamliner on their new Boston to Tokyo route, currently scheduled to start on April 22, 2012. JAL has also announced the intention of starting 787 service between San Diego and Tokyo later in the year.
HI RES IMAGE (click for larger). Executive Class cabin on JAL's first Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Photo by Boeing.
JAL becomes the second airline to take delivery of a 787, but this aircraft will represent a few firsts: It will be the first one to be delivered with GEnx engines, the first to be commercially fly a route to the US and the first to be used on a brand new route (ANA’s 787s have replaced other aircraft on routes that already existed).
The first aircraft is configured in a two class layout, with 42 seats in business class and 144 seats in economy.
HI RES IMAGE (click for larger). The economy cabin inside JAL's first Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Photo by Boeing.
The business (or executive) class seats are in a 2-2-2 layout and provide about 60″ of seat pitch and a bit over 21″ of width. The seat will recline to about 171 degrees. The Economy class is configured in a 2-4-2 layout and will provide 31″ seat pitch and 18.5″ seat width.
HI RES IMAGE (click for larger). JAL's Boeing 787 Dreamliner taking off at Paine Field. Photo by Boeing.
Screen shot of Boeing's flight tracker. Every dot represents a Boeing aircraft in flight. Click to make a visit.
At any given time there are tons (literally) of Boeing aircraft that are flying around the world. Recently, Boeing placed a flight tracker program on their newairplane.com website that let’s you get an idea just how many planes there really are.
The site does not show live flights, but instead uses data from the Official Airline Guide (OAG), which is run on a monthly basis. This flight tracker shown on the website is similar to one found in the Boeing Dreamliner Gallery. However, the one in the gallery is able to show an airline customer just their Boeing flying around the globe.
On the site, you are able to see flights operated by a 737, 747, 767, 777 or all of the above. So why not the 787 or 757? Boeing explained to AirlineReporter.com that since the 757 is no longer in production, they decided not to add it and that they plan to add the 787 in the future. Currently the Dreamliner is missing, since there just were not any commercial 787 flights when the program went live.
It is really interesting seeing the different routes that are flown through out the day by different aircraft types. Are there any that really stick out to you?
