Dreamliners Come to Those Who Wait

Boeing said late Sunday that ANA, the airline that is the first customer of its 787 Dreamliner, has begun flying test routes in Japan.

In a statement, the aviation giant said that during the step, which it considers a vital one leading to first delivery of the Dreamliner, likely in August or September, ANA pilots flew actual routes in Japan using what it called "airline dispatch and flight rules."

The first 787 landed in Tokyo Sunday at 6:21 a.m. (local time) in front of a thousand ANA employees, press, and airplane fans. The plane is the second 787 Dreamliner to come off Boeing's production line, and had flown non-stop from Seattle, Washington.

This is part of a week-long validation process, during which ANA and Boeing will put the Dreamliner through simulations of every day airline operations, including servicing, flight crew operations, and maintenance at five Japanese airports. ANA, which will be the first airline to fly the 787, is expected to debut the plane on its Haneda to Okayama or Hiroshima to Haneda routes later this year.

The new aircraft is made of a carbon composite that is lighter, 20% more fuel efficient and costs 30% less in maintenance than traditional aluminum aircrafts. It also features windows that are 1.2 times larger than those in current planes, and automatically darken with a touch of a button.

The first Dreamliner to debut is still hollow except for the cockpit, but Boeing says it will make the first 14 aircraft delivery to ANA by the end of March 2012. ANA plans on receiving an additional 10 during the next fiscal year through March 2013. The first two routes will be domestic: Haneda to Hiroshima and Haneda to Okayama. Mr. Ito says ANA plans to set up international routes later in this fiscal year, either to Europe or the West Coast in the U.S.

Jim Albaugh, President and Chief Executive Officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said that orders for Boeing 787 have reached 835, and the company is working to increase its manufacturing rate to reach 120 per year by 2013. He said Boeing currently makes two per month, and has set in the infrastructure to increase that number to 2.5 by August.

But Boeing has a reputation to overcome, and the most pending question is: will the delivery be on time? Mr. Ito said “I asked Mr. Albaugh about how the delivery process is going, and I believe in the confidence with which he told me that everything was going to be fine.”

Mr. Ito and Mr. Albaugh did not comment on how Boeing and ANA have settled the loss that the delay has cost. “We acknowledge that a delay on our part has affected ANA,” Mr. Albaugh said, “and we have made an agreement that will not be discussed here.”

Mr. Albaugh added that the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disasters did not have any negative effect on Boeing’s partnership with Japanese manufacturers who contributed to developing the Boeing 787. And he said, “I hope that after seeing how much better this aircraft is, Mr. Ito will forgive us.