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Boeing’s long-anticipated 787 Dreamliner landed in Hong Kong on Wednesday. All Nippon Airways’s first commercial flight with the Dreamliner has been delayed for more than three years.
After much delay, All Nippon Airways made history on Wednesday as the world’s first charter passenger flight of Boeing 787 Dreamliner landed in Hong Kong.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) Flight NH7871 took off from Tokyo’s Narita International Airport in the early afternoon and landed some four hours later in Hong Kong. The flight was welcomed by traditional dance and music at Hong Kong. The aircraft will return to Japan on Thursday.
Some 240 odd passengers who took the flight included scores of journalists, and Boeing and ANA executives. The Tokyo-based carrier organised a lottery among its frequent flyers for an opportunity to buy tickets on the Dreamliner. The airline sold some tickets in charity auctions.
Boeing 787 Dreamliner is believed to be 20% more fuel-efficient than conventional airliners and 30% cheaper to maintain. Travellers who look for cheap flight tickets will perhaps have a much better chance with the Dreamliner. It is not only about fuel efficiency and cheap flight tickets, the Boeing 787 also features design improvements for more comfortable medium- and long-haul flights.
All Nippon Airways is all set to start regular domestic service flights with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner from Nov. 1st. This will be followed by the first long-haul flight route from Tokyo to Frankfurt in January. ANA hopes to expand its service to Europe and North America next year.
Boeing 787 Dreamliner
Boeing 787 Dreamliner aims to change the way people travel. The makers claim that the flying experience of the travellers will be much better and comfortable with larger windows, improved lighting, and air pressure and humidity that are much akin to that on the ground.
The Dreamliner is built of lightweight materials that promise to improve the fuel efficiency of aircraft considerably. Boeing 787 Dreamliner is the first commercial jet made principally of plastic-composite materials. The aircraft has been touted as the ‘game changer’ by industry experts.
Delivery Schedule
All Nippon Airways is the biggest customer of the Dreamliner, with a total order of 55 aircraft. Up to now, the airline has received two of the airplanes and it is scheduled to get nine more before the end of March. ANA hopes to have 20 by the end of March 2013.
In course of time, Boeing 787 Dreamliner will become the main aircraft in ANA’s fleet. As per reports, the aircraft will help generate fuel savings to the tune of 10 billion yen ($126 million) a year.
Boeing had more than 800 Dreamliner orders at the end of last month from carriers like Air China,British Airways and Delta Airlines. This also included orders from China Eastern Airlines. However, the Shanghai-based airline has swapped the Dreamliner for 737s. Delays are said to be the reason for the change.
Japan Airlines has thirty five 787s on order, which it will employ to start a Tokyo-Boston service from April. United Continental will be the first American carrier to fly the 787. The airline plans to ply the aircraft on the Houston and Auckland (New Zealand) route.