United's first Boeing 787 Dreamliner is pulled out of the factory. Image from Boeing. Click for Larger.
Wednesday night, Boeing pulled out United Airline’s first 787 Dreamliner from the factory and off the final assembly line. The first 787 Dreamliner has already been delivered to the launch customer, ANA, but United will be the first North American airline to take delivery of the new aircraft. From United’s press release: “While in final assembly, the aircraft moved through four factory positions, including the final aircraft body join, landing gear installation, weight-on-wheels testing and installation of interior components and systems. Over the next several months, the aircraft will move to the next phase of completion, which includes final cabin configuration, installation of engines and painting.”
United's first Boeing 787 Dreamliner gets pulled in front of the factory located in Everett, WA. Photo by Boeing. Click for larger.
United will configure their first 787 with 36 seats in BusinessFirst, 63 seats in Economy Plus and 120 seats in Economy. There was some speculation if United might be offering a special livery, but I doubt it. When I was on the factory floor recently, the tail was definitely a solid blue, which matches United’s current “new” livery. With United recently switching their brand over from the tulip to the globe, it wouldn’t really make sense for them to also introduce a special livery. Normally I am all for any livery that spices things up, but at this stage it would just cause brand confusion.
Nose show of United Airline's first Boeing 787 Dreamliner outside the factory at Paine Field. Photo by Boeing. Click for larger.
Although the exact date of delivery is unknown, United told AirlineReporter.com that they expect to get their first 787 during the, “second half of 2012.” It will be the first of 50 that the airline has on order.
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 787 Dreamliner is one step closer to starting normal operations around the world — that is a good thing. Saturday, August 13th marked the final flight needed to certify the 787 Dreamliner with Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engines using the ninth test aircraft, ZA102. Certification testing will continue for 787s with GE engines. The nine test aircraft have flown just over 1,700 flights and more than 4,800 flight hours to perform more than 25,000 tests.
Test pilots have taken the aircraft to its limits and beyond to make sure the 787 is able to handle any possible future situation. “I’m used to landing the airplane 100,000 pounds overweight,” said Captain Mike Carriker , chief pilot for the 787 via Boeing’s website. “I’m used to flying it with the overspeed warning going on for hours on end or flying the airplane with an engine turned off.”
It is expected that ANA will take delivery of their first 787 (ZA101) sometime next month and then start flying the aircraft in Japan starting in October (and you can win tickets on one of the flights). Even though ZA101 is being prepared for delivery, to date it still has not flown. Boeing is not saying exactly when it will first fly, but I have been told that they will give notice, allowing fans the opportunity to catch a glimpse.
The video on this story from Boeing highlights the flight test program and has some pretty sweet footage. If the video is too serious for your taste and you need a little action, check out this 3D animation of a Boeing 787 vs an Airbus A380 put to Top Gun music found on FlightBlogger’s site.
United Airlines first Boeing 787 inside the Boeing Factory in Everett, WA. Photo from United.
Yesterday, United Airlines also announced its first 787 (the 45th Dreamliner) started it final assembly phase of construction. United will be the first North American airline to receive a Dreamliner, currently schedule in early 2012. In a press release they announced that, “the first United 787 will be configured with 36 flat-bed seats in BusinessFirst, 63 extra-legroom seats in Economy Plus and 120 seats in Economy.”
Both United and Continental Airlines had 25 of the aircraft ordered, meaning the new United will receive 50 aircraft. The airline previously announced that they will operate their first flight from Houston to Auckland and aim publicize the 787’s precise schedule later this year.
’œWe 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. ’œThe 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 Airlines Boeing 757 and Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 at SFO.
If you read my blog often, you know I try to remind people of the positive side of the airline business (sometimes it is harder than others). Each year airlines receive A LOT of complaints. Some are well deserved, while others are from people who have a warped sense of what is right and wrong.
Occasionally an airline will receive a positive letter and possibly a story of one employee who truly went out of their way. Some might think that letters like these get lost in a sea of other letters, but trust me, they do not. When touring many airline operation centers, they have a special place where they show off the positive letters and cards that they receive. Unfortunately the area is not too large, since not too many are sent. Let’s change that…
YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE – LET AIRLINES KNOW WHEN THEY ROCK!
Next time you are flying and someone goes out of their way or is obviously passionate about their job, take a few moments to jot down their name and email the airline. Be sure to mention the airport, your flight, their name and any other details. It doesn’t need to be long, just enough to give some kudos. Not only will people at the airline love to hear it, but this could actually help the career of the employee.
Recently, I have experienced two such instances that I made sure to tell the airline about. The first was a United Airlines gate manager in Seattle. I was waiting to take a flight to Chicago and the early morning flight had been cancelled and my aircraft had been changed from an Airbus A320 to an A319 (smaller). This meant there were a lot of people and not enough seats. He did a great job of just being honest with people and keeping a sense of humor during the ordeal. Most people were smiling as the gentleman warmly welcomed them on the flight, even the people who didn’t make the flight seemed happy (they also for $400 on United).
The next was an Alaska Airlines gate agent in Los Angeles. I had a five hour layover and plenty of time to watch her keep her spirits up and welcome each passenger by name on each flight. She was also my gate agent and it is just nice to be welcomed by name on a plane even though I was flying economy.
If you are having difficulty finding who to send it to, it is okay to send it to me (da***@*************er.com) and I will make sure it gets to the proper people. Heck, even if you send them to the airline directly, send it to me anyhow, I love hearing positive stories and I might even post a few. If you are a Twitter user, share your stories and use the hashtag #AirlineLove (what the heck does that mean?).
Airlines and employees have to deal with a lot of crap, let’s remind them that there are still people out there who love airlines and see flying as a great experience. The ball is now in your court!
Image: iflysfx
Last Friday I showed off Boeing’s 360 view of a Boeing 737 (nicknamed the “gigaplane”) and asked how many photos it took to make this one of a kind view. When the first few “around 20,000” answers started rolling in, I thought people were pretty good. Then I realized that other sites and even Boeing had covered the 360 view and stated it was “around 20,000.” I guess I cannot blame people for doing research, but luckily the “real” answer is not an even 20k — I do not have that many prizes.
So what is the exact answer? According to Boeing it is 22,240.
There were a lot of guesses and I appreciate the involvement, but who got closest? Well, I am giving props to the two who were the closest: Ariff Shah from Moscow who was only off by 240 and Allen Cheng from Langley, BC who was off by 260. So what do they win besides uber props on the blog?
These are the fabulous prizes for the Boeing 737 360 giga-plane contest. Good stuff.
They will both be mailed the prizes above: three AirlineReporter.com stickers, one magnet of an ANA Boeing 737 and last, but surely not least a coffee cup holder I got during the first flight of the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental. For the average person, the paper coffee holder means nothing, but for the true aviation geek, this is gold.
The video above shows behind-the-scenes on the making of the gigaplane image created by Boeing. It seems that fans are not the only ones excited about the giga-image. Rahsaan Johnson, the Director of United’s Communications told AirlineReporter.com, “Boeing is a great partner and the 737 is a great airplane, so we’re happy to join them in showing it off.”
A huge thanks to Boeing for creating and sharing this image with the general public — I hope we see more like it in the future.
