All Nippon Airways has announced the world's first scheduled B787-9 services.
The Japanese carrier received its first stretched Dreamliner on Tuesday (see news, July 29).
It has now revealed that, from August 7, it will introduce the 395-seat aircraft — with nine-across seating in economy — on routes between Tokyo Haneda and Fukuoka, Osaka Itami and Matsuyama.
ANA will add a further two B787-9s to its fleet by the end of March 2015. It plans to introduce the aircraft on international services in April 2015.
When it launches the aircraft on its international services, ANA will operate a 215-seat configuration, with 46 more seats than the existing B787-8 used on long-haul routes.
A statement from the airline said: "ANA will focus on utilising the 395-seat version of the 787-9 on major domestic routes to maximise passenger numbers, while also lowering operational costs.
"On ANA's international network, the plan is to utilise the 787-9 to increase capacity on some long-haul routes to Europe, North America and other key destinations which are at present served by the smaller 787-8 or to replace larger aircraft currently operating the routes."
From August 7, the B787-9 will operate three flights per day.
Flight NH241 will depart Tokyo Haneda at 0725 and arrive in Fukuoka at 0915, with return service NH248 departing Fukuoka at 1005 and landing at Haneda at 1150.
Flight NH25 will depart Haneda at 1300 and arrive at Osaka Itami at 1405, with return service NH30 taking-off from Osaka at 1500 and arriving back at Haneda at 1615.
Flight NH595 will depart Haneda at 1715 and arrive at Matsuyama at 1840, with return service NH598 leaving Matsuyama at 1930 and landing at Haneda at 2100.
ANA now has 29 B787s in its fleet, more than any other airline. It was the launch customer for the Dreamliner, having ordered a total of 80 aircraft, including 36 787-8s (28 of which have already been delivered) and 44 787-9s.
ANA has 29 more 787-9s on order with commitments for 14 more.
Earlier this month, Air New Zealand became the first airline to take delivery of the B787-9 (see news, July 7).
ANZ will deploy the aircraft on its Auckland to Perth route from October 15, and later on flights to Shanghai and Tokyo.
Graham Smith
