United’s first Boeing 787 Dreamliner seen with a quick (and not real) livery for when President Obama visiting Paine Field. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren / NYCAviation.com.
Internal communications shows that United Airlines is expecting to take delivery of their first Boeing 787 Dreamliner in September 2012.
United will become the first US airline to take delivery of the new aircraft.
The airline hasn’t been very specific on their expected timeline for their first Dreamliner — only publicly stating, “We expect the plane will enter revenue service in the second half of 2012. ”
Recently, they sent an internal communications to some employees that shows that United has a more detailed plan for their first 787. Over the summer, the newsletter explained that Boeing will complete the following tasks for their first 787:
- Bring electrical power onto the airplane and begin to exercise the use of the electrical systems.
- Install seats and other cabin amenities (the cabin will feature 36 United BusinessFirst flat-bed seats, 63 Economy Plus seats and 120 seats in Economy).
- Paint the 787 in United livery.
- Conduct a series of tests to prepare their 787 for delivery.
Yesterday, United posted this photo on their Facebook showing one of their two GEnx engines that were installed on their first Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Photo from United.
The document confirms their expectations for a fall delivery: “September, 2012: We expect to take delivery of our first 787. While the aircraft is expected to enter revenue service in 2012, we will first complete a variety of tests and training. This includes completing FAA conformity checks, which may require up to 100 flight hours of proving runs.”
Of course, dates of delivery are always flowing and it is very possible that United might receive their first 787 before or after September — so don’t get to attached to that month… yet.
UPDATE: I heard back from United and they stated, “We are still saying that we expect to take delivery of our first 787 in the second half of this year.” Knowing how 787 Dreamliner schedules have changed so much in the past few years, it is probably best to stick to that.
GALLERY OF UNITED’S FIRST BOEING 787 DREAMLINER:
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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.
JAL’s new in-flight entertainment system, called SKY MANGA, will also debut on the aircraft. The interior has a very different looking atmosphere than ANA’s Dreamliner cabin.
Cargolux Boeing 747-8F
Boeing was set to deliver their first 747-8F to Cargolux on September 19th, but at the last minute, the Luxembourg-based cargo company put the deal on hold and the delivery was postponed. Both Boeing and Cargolux kept quiet and rumors started about the reasoning behind this odd business maneuver. According to Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker, who has a 35% stake in Cargolux, the issues stem from the 747-8F being 2.7% less fuel efficient than advertised. Al Baker stated that the issues causing the airline to back out of accepting delivery are related to GE, who built the engines on the 747-8F, and not Boeing. At this point, Cargolux is expected to take ownership of their first 747-8F on October 12th, pending the airlines board approving during their meeting on October 7th.
During a Boeing 777 delivery event for Qatar Airways, Al Baker was asked about Cargolux and their handling of the situation. ’œUnfortunately, the management of Cargolux did not take the action they should have taken during the process of the aircraft acceptance,’ Al-Baker stated according to Bloomberg. ’œAs we sit on the board of Cargolux, we have full right to object if we find something is not fair as far as Cargolux is concerned.’
One of the loudest rumors about this deal was that Qatar Airways was holding Cargolux’s 747-8F hostage for a better compensation deal on their 787 Dreamliners. However, Al Baker clearly stated that the Cargolux 747-8F delay has nothing to do with compensation for the 787 Dreamliner. ’œThe issue really with this aircraft has nothing to do with Boeing. It has to do with an issue that we had with the engine manufacturer,’ Al Baker said according to the Seattle PI. ’œThis issue has been resolved’ subject to board approval.
GE has already announced that they are working on a Performance Improvement Package (PIP) for the the GEnx-2B engine found on the 747-8. The package is not slated to be ready until mid-2013.
Even with all the issues that Qatar and Cargolux have recently had with Boeing, according to ArabianBusiness.com, Al-Baker described his relationship with Boeing as strong, ’œdespite a few hiccups along the way.” At this point, it is not certain what the delivery celebration will entail and Boeing is waiting until after the October 7th board meeting to announce any plans.
Image: ImperfectSense
There is a lot of prep work for Boeing to prepare the first 787 Dreamliner to be delivered to All Nippon Airways (ANA). This video takes you behind the scenes, highlighting some of the tasks completed before ANA took their own final inspection of aircraft ZA101 ’“ JA801A.
“Our inspection is very important. We have to receive the high-quality airplane for our customers,” says Nobutaka Tazawa, chief airplane inspector for ANA of Japan, the launch customer for the 787.
ANA concluded a thorough inspection, including checking the windscreen wipers, that lasted ten hours. It appears that everything is ready to go for the official delivery on Monday morning. This is going to be one amazing event and I can’t wait to share it.
Learn more about the video
Check out Boeing’s special ANA 787 first delivery site
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.
