Boeing Dreamliner: how the airlines compare

Published: 16/11/2012 - Filed under: News »

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***All Boeing Dreamliner aircraft are currently grounded while tests are carried out on the aircraft's onboard batteries. For the latest updates click here.***

Business Traveller brings you a comprehensive guide to current Boeing Dreamliner operators ANA, JAL, Ethiopian Airlines, LAN, Air India, United, Qatar Airways and LOT Polish Airlines, plus details of forthcoming carriers including Thomson, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic. (For our guide to Airbus A380 operators click here.)

The Boeing B787 Dreamliner is a wide-bodied, twin engine jet aircraft, built using 50 per cent composite materials.

Key features include greater fuel efficiency than similarly sized aircraft already in production, a decreased noise footprint, and the largest windows of any commercial aircraft.

The Dreamliner was originally scheduled to go into service in 2008, but a series of delays including a Machinist's strike at Boeing, and an in-flight fire during testing, led to the first delivery being delayed by around three years.

More recently incidents have been reported with B787 engines supplied by both Rolls Royce and GE Aviation.

Japanese carrier ANA became the launch customer for the Boeing B787 Dreamliner in 2011 (see online news September 29, 2011), and has a total of 55 B787s on order.

ANA operates two versions of the Dreamliner aircraft - a regional configuration with 12 angled lie-flat business class seats and 250 economy seats, and an international configuration with 46 fully-flat business class seats and 112 economy seats. For seatplans of both version, see the links below.

The carrier's inaugural B787 flight was between Tokyo and Hong Kong, with the aircraft subsequently going into service on routes including Tokyo Haneda to Okayama, Hiroshima, Beijing and Frankfurt.

Fellow Japanese airline JAL was the second carrier to take delivery of the Dreamliner in March 2012, putting it into service on its Tokyo-Boston route, with future destinations including Beijing, Moscow, New Delhi and Singapore.

JAL has configured its B787 aircraft with 46 fully-flat business class seats, and 112 seats in economy. For a seatplan of the aircraft see the link below.

JAL has since been followed by a further four carriers taking delivery of the Dreamliner in 2012. Ethiopian Airlines launched its B787 aircraft in August (see online news August 16), with the Dreamliner embarking on an African and world tour including flights to Dubai, Mumbai, Rome, London and Frankfurt, before being rostered onto the carrier's Washington route.

Chilean carrier LAN also took delivery of its first Dreamliner in August (see online news September 3), become the first South American airline to do so. LAN plans to serve routes including Buenos Aires, Lima, Los Angeles, Madrid, and Frankfurt with its B787, which is configured with 217 economy seats in a 3-3-3 layout, and 30 fully-flat seats in business class configured 2-2-2.

After several months of delays Air India took delivery of its first B787 in September, with 18 business class seats in a 2-2-2 layout, and 238 economy seats configured 3-3-3 (see online news September 7).

US carrier United also took delivery of its first Dreamliner in September, with the aircraft embarking on a month-long training and certification programme, before its inaugural commercial flight between Houston and Chicago on November 4 (see online news September 25).

The carrier has also announced plans to fly the Dreamliner to London on a temporary basis from February 4 next year, and will also roster the B787 on to international routes including LA-Tokyo, LA-Shanghai, Houston-Lagos and Denver-Tokyo.

Qatar Airways became the first Middle Eastern carrier to take delivery of the Dreamliner in November, with the aircraft initially operating on intra-Gulf flights before being rostered onto the key Doha-London Heathrow route from December.

Earlier this year the carrier unveiled its brand new business class seats which have been fitted onto the Dreamliner aircraft, featuring a 1-2-1 layout, with a seat width of 22 inches, rising to 30 inches when converted into an 80-inch fully flat bed.

For a review of the new business class seat, carried out on the carrier's Dreamliner delivery flight between Seattle and Doha, click here.

LOT Polish Airlines also took delivery of its first B787 aircraft in November. The carrier is set to launch the aircraft on its Warsaw-Prague route on December 14, and says it will fly the aircraft to eight European destinations “over the next eight months”: Prague, Vienna, Munich, Frankfurt, Hannover, Kiev, Budapest and Brussels (see online news September 27).

For more details on the seating offered on LOT's Dreamliner, along with a video of the aircraft taking off on its delivery flight from Seattle, click here.

Other airlines set to add the Boeing Dreamliner to their fleet in the near future include:

Thomson Airways is set to become the first UK carrier to fly the Dreamliner next year, with launch routes including Florida and Cancun from Gatwick, Manchester, East Midlands and Glasgow.

Fellow British carrier British Airways is also scheduled to take delivery of the first of 24 B787 aircraft next year.

Virgin Atlantic has a total of 16 Dreamliners on order, and Monarch Airlines had also ordered six B787 aircraft, but these were cancelled in 2011, with the airline citing a decision to focus on short-haul operations.

Useful links

Businesstraveller.com and seatplans.com have a wealth of information on the airlines currently operating B787 aircraft, from images and videos, to seatplans and flight reviews.

Here are just a few links for each B787 carrier which you may find useful - for a full list of all Dreamliner articles published by Business Traveller, including new routes and product information, click here.

We have also published a special report looking at the building of the Boeing Dreamliner, complete with images taken inside the manufacturer's factory in Seattle - to read this click here.

ANA

JAL

Qatar Airways

Thomson Airways

LAN

United Airlines

Ethiopian Airlines

Etihad Airways

Air India

British Airways

BA confirms delivery dates for first A380s and Dreamliners

LOT Polish Airlines

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