Xiamen Air is the latest carrier to welcome the B787 Dreamliner to its fleet, and has paid one billion US dollars for six of the aircraft.
The airline configures its Dreamliners in three classes – First, Business and Economy – for a total of 237 passengers.
First class cabin
Business class features 18 fully-flat seats and economy class accommodates up to 215 passengers.
Business class
Economy class
The Dreamliner marks the first time Xiamen Air has operated long-haul aircraft. The first B787 will be delivered in August and the inaugural route will fly from Fuzhou to Beijing for crew familiarisation. However future plans will see the aircraft being used to service North America and European destinations, including Los Angeles, Amsterdam and Paris. All three destinations make sense, given the countless onward connection possibilities through its SkyTeam partners Delta and KLM-Air France respectively.
At the moment there are no direct air links between Xiamen and North America. Currently, the only long-haul service out of the Chinese city attracting vast amounts of foreign direct investment (FDI) every year is a thrice-weekly Amsterdam flight operated by KLM.
In addition to six Dreamliners, 30 B737-800s will be delivered to Xiamen Air in the coming two years. The Chinese carrier has also placed an order for 70 B737NGs and B737MAXs, aiming to grow its fleet to 200 by 2020. Future destinations are planned to include South America and Australia.
Dominic Sebastian Lalk