Boeing 787 Dreamliner in the factory, to fly for ANA.
In a press release sent out today, All Nippon Airways (ANA) has announced they will, “that it will operate its first revenue flight of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner as a charter international flight from Tokyo, Narita to Hong Kong.”
ANA stated that they expect the first revenue flight to occur about one month after they accept delivery of their initial Boeing 787 Dreamliner in September. Previously, Boeing has announced they plan to deliver the first 787 sometime in August or September.
The airline planes to also operate two domestic excursion flights departing and landing in Narita and lasting about an hour to allow more people to experience what it is like to fly on a Boeing 787.
The excursion flights will be made available to frequent flyers and ANA Mileage Card members (lucky folks). More information on the flights and how to try to secure your own tickets will be announced at a later date on ANA’s 787 Dreamliner website.
This model of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner in ANA Star Alliance livery was at Narita Airport. Click for larger.
While on a layover at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport, I found a very large model of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner in special All Nippon Airways (ANA) Star Alliance livery.
ANA has told AirlineReporter.com that they, “are not planning to use the Star Alliance livery for the 787s for now.” That means we might have to wait a bit longer to see this on a bigger version.
Boeing has announced it expects to delivery its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner to ANA either August of September of this year. The first 787 will have a special ANA livery which was announced during the Paris Air Show.
As reported earlier in the week, the second Boeing 787 Dreamliner (ZA002) is currently in Japan undergoing Service Readiness Validation. Even though words about what is going on in Japan is interesting, photos are even better. Boeing has been doing a pretty great job posting photos on their Flickr account, but they also have some slick hi-resolution photos on their media page that I wanted to share. All the photos below were taken by Boeing and have the description from Boeing below each one. Click on any photo for a much larger version. Enjoy!
Photo by Boeing. Click for larger.
The Boeing 787 flight test airplane ZA002 readied for departure from Boeing Field to Japan on Saturday, July 2. Over the coming days, Boeing and 787 launch customer ANA will conduct an important validation of their readiness for the 787 Dreamliner’s entry into service.
Over the holiday weekend, All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Boeing started readiness validation tests for the 787 Dreamliner in Japan to prepare the aircraft for its delivery to ANA sometime in August to September. The second Dreamliner made (ZA002 — which will not be the first delivered) flew over to Japan from Seattle to start the week-long testing while flying throughout Japan.
“ANA is proud to be the first airline in the world that will operate the 787,” said Shinichiro Ito, ANA president and CEO. “Validating all of our training and preparations for the Dreamliner is critical to help ensure a smoother entry into service for our passengers and crews later this year.”
Before ground crews in Japan had the opportunity to experience the 787 Dreamliner, many have previosly been flown to Everett, WA to get practice working on the all new aircraft. On July 2nd, ZA002 left Boeing Field early in the morning heading for the first time to Japan. Although the 787 has flown many times previously, this flight was different — it was meant to simulate normal operations.
Even though the 787 Dreamliner will be operating as it is carrying passengers, the interior is very different than what you will find after it is prepared for for delivery. There are a few standard passenger seats, but also many work stations and none of the creature comforts you can expect when the first Dreamliner is delivered.
After an uneventful flight, the 787 landed at Tokyo’s Haneda airport at 6:21am on July 3rd, local time, to a cheering crowd of over 1000 people. The 787 Dreamliner will continue to fly and conduct tests for maintenance, servicing and flight crew at five airports in Tokyo: Osaka (Itami and Kansai), Okayama and Hiroshima. ANA’s first scheduled service with the 787 will be either the Haneda-Okayama or Haneda-Hiroshima route when deliveries begin later this year.
You can follow the Boeing 787 Dreamliner while in Japan on Boeing’s social media: Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. A tip-of-the-hat to Boeing for following this historical event. They could just send out interesting, but bland press releases about the progress, but it is awesome they continue to share so much of the 787 Dreamliner’s experience via social media.
ANA showed off their special Dreamliner Livery today. Photo by Boeing.
Today, All Nippon Airways (ANA) unveiled their special Boeing 787 Dreamliner livery.
The livery is the celebrate that ANA will be the first airline in the world to fly the 787 Dreamliner. The blue lines at the rear of the fuselage are designed to highlight how the three core elements of the airline’s service brand – innovation, uniqueness and the inspiration of modern Japan ’“ operate across the ANA network. Only two Dreamliners will be painted in the special livery, the rest will be in standard ANA livery.
ANA's new Business Class will have staggered seating. Click for bigger.
ANA also unveiled their new cabin layout that will premier on the 787 Dreamliner. Business Class seats will have full lay flat beds, 17″ monitors and staggered seating, allowing aisle access from every seat. For both long and short haul layouts in the 787 Dreamliner, there will be two classes: Business and Economy.
Economy class will feature seats that have fixed backs, where a passenger can recline, but it will not impede into the person’s space behind you. Every seat will have in seat entertainment and universal power and USB ports.
ANA has ordered 55 787 Dreamliners and the first should be delivered sometime in August or September.
