Well the second customer is lining up to receive their 787’s. And step forward Japan Airlines who will be the next Boeing customer to get their birds.
The big difference between the ANA 787s and the JAL 787s will be the power-plant – ANA use Roll Royce Trent 1000’s engines, whilst JAL will be using General Electric GEnx-1B-engines.
For Boeing this is an important step as this will restart deliveries due to improper installation of parts on the new build 787’s.
JAL are expecting their 787s in the weeks to come, with the following birds booked for delivery:
- Airplane 23 – JA822J
- Airplane 33 – JA825J
Both with be configured with 186 seats installed, with a handover in March as JAL is preparing the launch of Tokyo-Narita to Boston Service.
Whilst there is time to prepare for the service, JAL was expecting these two aircraft to arrive in February. In the meantime, one of the test aircraft (ZA005) has been doing the rounds with JAL for validation purposes.
Japan Airlines had expected to receive the aircraft in February.
Since the JAL birds are fitted with GE engines, they will be cleared for ETOPS330 – or running on a single engine for up to 330 minutes in case of a 1st engine failure.
It’s an exciting time for the Japanese carriers as the 787’s come on stream. Other airlines will be watching – including United Airlines who will be operating this variant of the 787…
Isn’t Air India the second in line?
Was meant to be, but it seems the issue of money has come to the fore. http://nyc787.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/ge-powered-787-receives-faa-type.html and http://nyc787.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/update-to-march-2012-787-deliveries.html explain it in a bit more detail