JA806A pulling into Gate 15 at San Jose Airport (SJC) – Photo: Mal Muir | AirlineReporter.com
A beautiful, clear, sunny day awaited guests as they checked in at San Jose’s Norman Y Mineta International Airport (SJC). Saturday was the day a lot of people have been waiting for: All Nippon Airways (ANA) is resuming their Tokyo flights into the Silicon Valley, providing a direct link from the bay area to northern Asia. I was lucky enough to be invited on this flight by ANA to help celebrate this re-introduction [ANA only flew the 787 for only a few days into SJC before the aircraft was grounded].
This flight into San Jose also sees the reintroduction of the 787 to international skies for ANA, who operate the world’s largest fleet of Dreamliners. As NH1076 touched down at San Jose a few minutes ahead of schedule, the gate area was quiet, the staff scurried around preparing for the flights arrival. This could’ve been any flight on any other day, but it wasn’t.
Boeing delivers Thomson Airway’s first Boeing 787 Dreamliner from Paine Field. Image from Boeing.
Keep on flying Dreamliners!
Yesterday, Boeing delivered first 787 Dreamliners to two different airlines: Thomson Airways and China Southern Airlines.
Although there was not much fanfare with Thomson’s 787 departing Everett, thousands were at Manchester Airport to welcome the aircraft. “After much anticipation, we are very excited to welcome the 787 Dreamliner to our fleet and as the first airline in the UK,” said Thomson Managing Director Chris Browne. “Customers will be amazed at the unique look, feel and service ’“ all of which will ensure the unique Thomson holiday experience starts as soon as they step on board this fabulous new aircraft.”
ANA Boeing 787 at Paine Field. Photo by David Parker Brown.
As 787s around the world return to the sky after the infamous battery incident, airlines work to get their aircraft back to full utilization. United Airlines resumed domestic services between its major hubs of Houston, Chicago & San Francisco, while Qatar Airways returned their Dreamliner to their short Dubai route before starting service back up to London. All Nippon Airways (ANA), which currently operates the largest 787 fleet of 18 aircraft, will start putting their 787s back to service starting June 1.
Prior to the battery incidents, ANA operates two Dreamliner flights to North America: Seattle (SEA) and San Jose (SJC). Once the grounding came into effect both routes were suspended and the industry speculated what would happen to the destinations. Other 787 services like Frankfurt & Beijing (both served from Tokyo Haneda) were changed to other aircraft to keep them active. Would SJC and SEA remain 787 destinations? Yes and no.
A United Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Photo by Jack Harty / Airchive.com.
An excerpt from Jack Harty’s story on Airchive.com:
More than one hundred days after the FAA grounded the 787, United Airlines flew their first post-grounding 787 flight from Houston to Chicago on May 20. More than 200 passengers, including executives from both Boeing and United, made history as they spent part of their day cruising at 41,000 feet and at a Mach speed of 0.85 on United flight 1 to mark the return of United’s Dreamliners.
On September 22, 2012, United Airlines quietly took delivery of their first Boeing 787 Dreamliner, and, six days later, they ferried it to Houston, Texas where a large crowd of employees and local journalists joined to celebrate United’s dream come true.
However, United still had to receive certification from the FAA to fly passengers. It was a long five weeks for United as they conducted safety drills, practiced aircraft servicing, and flew several proving runs to Amsterdam, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Newark, San Francisco, and Tokyo. United’s second 787 was delivered on October 31 which was several days late as Boeing experienced delays. United had to scrub several 787 flights due to the delay.
Continue reading United Airlines Re-Inaugurates 787 Dreamliner Flights on Airchive.com
LOT Polish Airlines started service to New York in 1973 using the Ilyushin IL-62. Check out those paintings. Photo from LOT.
Hopefully the title of this story makes total sense to you already. What the heck does LOT Polish Airlines celebrating 40 years of flying from Warsaw (WAW) to New York (JFK) have to do with James Bond? Oh just wait.
It was a big step for LOT to start their Warsaw to New York flights in 1973 using the Ilyushin IL-62. “Taking into consideration Poland’s political situation at that time, the launching of airline operations to the US in 1973 should be recognized as a breakthrough in Poland’s relations with the West,” said Sebastian Mikosz, President of LOT Polish Airlines. “We are proud of such a long tradition of this flight, being the most popular among our passengers. Thanks to the well timed and plentiful connections, our North Atlantic flights also generate a big flow of traffic via our Warsaw hub.”
