Boeing 787 To Begin Long Haul Passenger Flights

Boeing 787 To Begin Long Haul Passenger Flights:

The Japanese airline All Nippon Airways has been flying the first passenger carrying Boeing 787s for about two and a half months now. But so far all of the flights have been short, domestic routes (with the exception of the ceremonial first passenger flight to Hong Kong). That should change later this month as ANA plans to begin flying to Frankfurt, Germany, giving the 787 a chance to stretch its long range legs for the first time with paying passengers.

In the first few months, a pair of 787s did most of the work on the Japanese routes between Tokyo and Hiroshima or Okayama. A third 787 was delivered just before the end of 2011 and in the new year two more have been added to the ANA 787 fleet.

With the limited data from just a few planes and short routes, the new composite airliner has not encountered any major setbacks in service. According to Flightglobal, the ANA 787s dispatch reliability rate stands at 96.3 percent. This is close to the airlines overall dispatch reliability rate of 96.5 percent. According to Boeing, the dispatch reliability rate for some of its other aircraft such as the 777 is over 99 percent.

These early figures might not be indicative of the overall reliability of the 787 so far as the dispatch reliability rate is highly variable between airlines and aircraft. Some airlines may consider a flight delayed for maintenance reasons if a seat cushion has to be replaced, and the flight leaves a few minutes late. Another airline may only count more serious mechanical issues that temporarily takes an airplane out of service.

The early reliability rate of the 787 will of course change as more enter service and different routes are flown.

All Nippon Airways recently began service to Beijing, and is scheduled to begin service to Germany on January 20. The first routes to the United States are expected to begin later in the spring with flights to Seattle and San Jose.

Photo: All Nippon Airways