Jetstar prepares for the 787

Jetstar – Qantas’s low cost arm is preparing for the arrival of the Boeing 787’s.

The first aircraft will join the Jetstar fleet in September 2013, with commercial service due to commence in November. Initially, the 787’s will ply Australian domestic services before spreading their wings onto international routes. This will be subject to Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority certifying the type as Jetstar will be the first Austrailian operator of the type.

By the end of the year, Jetstar will hopefully had its first allocation of three 787’s delivered.

In terms of passenger experience, you’ll be looking at 21 Business recliner seats and 314 seats in Economy according to Australian Business Traveller. Meanwhile for those who love IFE will be happy to find out that Panasonic’s excellent eX2 system will be installed on the plane. USB power ports and Power at seat will be available in all classes.

From this, it’s a pretty easy guess the seating arrangements. Those of you who don’t like to be crammed in a plane, look away now.

– 21 Seats Business – 2-3-2 Seating formation
– 314 Economy Seats – 3-3-3 Seating formation

Talk about packing them in…

Jetstar have 14 787’s on order (due for delivery by 2015), which will replace the Airbus A330’s as Jetstar’s long haul fleet. The A330’s will be transfered back to Qantas, which in turn will displace Qantas’s Boeing 767 fleet.

As 787’s begin to roll out of the Boeing factory it’s sad to see that most airlines are going for capacity over comfort, by going for the denser 3-3-3 configurations in the back, rather than the more comfortable 2-4-2 formations.

Still, it’s a new plane. That’s one good thing at least…