An auspicious start?
A decade since he stepped aboard the Dreamliner’s revenue debut, Chris Sloan looks back at the 787’s first years in service
All Nippon Airways' second Boeing 787-8, JA802A (c/n 34497), departs Tokyo/Haneda
On October 26, 2011, I boarded All Nippon Airways (ANA) flight 7871 – the Boeing 787’s inaugural revenue service. The special charter from Tokyo/Narita to Hong Kong/Chek Lap Kok was long on ceremony and historic significance, heralding the introduction of a truly game-changing aircraft. Boeing’s “moonshot” programme was a technical tour de force, with the company cramming more cutting-edge technology into any airliner than it had since the 747, some 40 years earlier
“The 787 set a benchmark” said Tom Sanderson, Boeing’s director of product marketing for the 787, who has been with the programme in marketing and engineering capabilities since 2005.
He continued: “I don't think even we fully realised the scope of how much it would change expectations for commercial aircraft. The 787 is the anchor by which everything else is compared.”
The bold project has been bedevilled by significant delays and challenges in its development trajectory. The 787 was launched nearly eight years prior in December 2003, with a landmark order of 50 jets from ANA – then the biggest commitment to a new airliner in Boeing’s history. The first aircraft was rolled out in a lavish ceremony on July 8, 2007 (reflecting the US date format 7-8-7), but it had more in common with a mock-up than a flyable aircraft. It would be another two-and-a-half years before the first 787 took flight on December 15, 2009. The 787’s entry-into-service, originally scheduled for March 2008 in time for the Beijing Olympics, was more than three years late.
The Boeing 787's maiden revenue service was toasted with a drum of Sake
CHRIS SLOAN
All
Nippon
Airways'
then
CEO,
Shinichiro
Ito
addresses
passengers
waiting
eagerly
to
step
on
board
the
company's
initial
787-8
for
the
type's
inaugural
service
CHRIS SLOAN
The first 787 was delivered to its launch customer on September 25, 2011 at a boisterous but rain-soaked celebration event in Everett, Washington. Wearing festive ANA ‘We Fly First 787’ scarves, thousands of Boeing employees walked in procession as the first 787 was towed over to the ceremony.