ANA announces Dreamliner’s first flight date and route

Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) said yesterday it will conduct the first commercial flights of Boeing 787 Dreamliners from Tokyo to Hong Kong in October, followed by regular services to Beijing and F

Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA) said yesterday it will conduct the first commercial flights of Boeing 787 Dreamliners from Tokyo to Hong Kong in October, followed by regular services to Beijing and Frankfurt.

ANA, the inaugural customer for the heavily delayed high-tech jetliner, said the aircraft will fly on October 26 and 27 from Narita, near Tokyo, to Hong Kong.

The airline, which should receive the aircraft in September, will also conduct excursion flights departing from and landing in Narita as a part of a promotional campaign.

Advertisement: Story continues below Domestic flights from Tokyo’s Haneda airport to western cities of Okayama and Hiroshima will start from November, it said.

The aircraft’s first regular international service will start from December for the Haneda-Beijing route, ANA said.

It will be followed by the Dreamliner’s first regular long-haul international operation between Haneda and Frankfurt from January, a joint venture route between ANA and Lufthansa.

Boeing had originally promised to roll out the aircraft in 2008. But a string of technical mishaps and delays have slowed the testing programmes for the jets, which boast high fuel efficiency.

ANA has ordered a total of 55 Dreamliners, making it the largest airline customer for the aircraft. The carrier is due to get 12 of the planes by the end of March and another eight in the subsequent 12 months. It plans to operate a special 787 charter flight to Hong Kong in October.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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