All photos from Boeing/United. Click any for larger view
This Monday, many will celebrate the first Boeing 787 delivery to All Nippon Airways (ANA). ANA will become the first airline in the world receive and operate a Boeing 787, and United Airlines will be the first US operator the 787.
Currently, United’s first 787 is making its way through the Boeing factory in Everett. I was able to catch a glimpse of the airframe while taking a factory tour during a recent TweetUp, but was unable to take photos (Boeing does not allow photos on their standard factory tour). Luck for us, Boeing sent photos to United and the airline shared them on their FaceBook.
United is expecting to take delivery of their first 787s sometime in early 2012. United and Continental Airlines both previously had 25 on order and post merger, United will have 50. United plans to fit their 787s with 36 flat-bed seats in BusinessFirst, 63 extra-legroom seats in Economy Plus and 120 seats in standard Economy.
“We are proud to be the first North American airline to receive the 787, which will be a game changer for the new United and the industry,” said United Airlines President and CEO Jeff Smisek via a press release. “The 787 will be a very comfortable, customer pleasing aircraft, and with its range, fuel efficiency and superb operating economics, the 787 will allow us to enter new long-haul markets and also replace older, less-efficient widebody aircraft.”
United has not yet announced any flight schedules for their 787s, but plan to do so later in the year. Continental has previously announced a planned flight from Houston to Auckland non-stop using the 787.
The Boeing 747-8F is delayed. Will the 787 go to ANA before the 747-8F goes to Cargolux?
As of now, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is scheduled to be delivered to All Nippon Airways (ANA) on Monday September 26th. The first Boeing 747-8F was scheduled to be delivered to Cargolux on the 19th, but as of now has little hope of being delivered this week.
So that raises the question: which aircraft do you think will be delivered to their customer before the other? The 787 or the 747-8F?
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If you are viewing this on my Seattle PI or Reuters syndications, you might need to go directly to AirlineReporter.com to vote.
Image: 747-8 belongs to flypdx
Airbus A350 XWB in Air France and KLM liveries. Images from Airbus. Click for larger.
Air France-KLM announced today that they have ordered 110 Airbus A350 XWB and Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. Currently there are 50 firm orders with another 60 options.
’œFor its first joint order, the Air France KLM group made its selection after a detailed assessment showing all the performance characteristics of each aircraft, including their energy and environmental performance’ declared Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, CEO of Air France KLM.
Computer rendering of the 787 Dreamliner in Air France and KLM liveries. Images from Boeing.
The airline will purchase 25 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, with options for 25 more. They will also purchase 25 A350-900s with options for another 35.
’œWe’re proud to be a major part of the fleet renewal plan being undertaken by Air France-KLM,’ said Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. ’œThe 787 Dreamliner will bring outstanding value to the two airlines and will be a great complement to their large fleets of Boeing widebody airplanes.’
Currently Boeing has over 800 orders from 56 customers for the 787 Dreamliner and Airbus has 567 orders for the A350 XWB from 35 customers.
At RwandAir's headquarters at Kigali Airport, they have mutliple images of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner in their livery around the office. This mock up shows a hopeful operation date of 2015.
I have been learning a lot about Rwanda and RwandAir over the past few days and will be sharing everything over the next week or so. I wanted to give a quick update on RwandAir’s aircraft and route planning, since it is quite surprising and involves a few Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
The airline has just taken delivery of their first new aircraft ever, a Boeing 737-800 with Sky Interior. According to RwandAir CEO John Mirenge this is just the beginning. He stated that they hope to increase their current fleet of six aircraft to 12 over the next five years and up to 18 by 2020. Currently they operate a fleet of two Boeing 737-500s, one Boeing 737-800 (a second one coming in October), two CRJ-200s and one Dash 8. By 2020, they hope to take delivery of additional Boeing 737s, ATR-72, Embraer regional jets and Boeing 787 Dreamliners — new.
Mirenge told AirlineReporter.com that he hopes to fly the Dreamliners to China, Europe and possibly the eastcoast of the United States. The airline hopes to create a hub of air transportation in Kigali, providing the demand for the larger aircraft.
It seems that flying the Dreamliner by 2015 might be a bit optimistic. It might be difficult to get a delivery slot by then and Kigali is in the process of building a new airport to better handle the expected increase of traffic, but is not set to be completed until 2018.
It is unusual for an airline to be so candid about their future plans of aircraft purchases and future routes. However, RwandAir is a different sort of airline and definitely have created a positive momentum.
ANA's first Boeing 787 Dreamliner to be delivered on September 27th.
Sorry folks, I have to be lazy and copy and paste directly from ANA’s press release:
’œThe airplane is ready. ANA is ready. And, Boeing is ready,’ said Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. ’œThis airplane begins a new chapter in aviation history.’
ANA’s airplane will arrive in Tokyo on Sept. 28, following a Sept. 27 departure from Everett, Wash., and will be greeted by ANA employees, media and Japanese partners. Details of events in Everett and Tokyo will be provided in the weeks ahead. Many of the events will be webcast live, allowing people around the world to participate in the celebration.
Shinichiro Ito, president and CEO of ANA Group, said, ’œAs launch customer, we are delighted to be taking delivery of our first 787 Dreamliner. This aircraft will enable us to offer new standards of service and comfort to our passengers and will play an important role in our international expansion strategy as we seek to become Asia’s number one airline.’
ANA launched the 787 program with a record-setting order of 50 airplanes in April 2004. The airline has played a key role in guiding the design of the Dreamliner.
