United Airlines will be opening a base for their Boeing 787 feet at Los Angeles Airport according to FlightGlobal – http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/united-plans-787-base-in-los-angeles-391280
It should be pretty clear why United would choose to base their 787 fleet – lots of Asia routes to deploy on, with the 787 making those routes that are don’t demand a 777 or 747 load, and thus more economical to operate on the “thinner” routes.
Currently, no date of when the 787 base will open or how many 787s will be based there, although United is adding 787 routes for the Summer 2014 timetable.
United is slowly growing its fleet of Boeing 787-8 aircraft, with seven aircraft in the fleet, outstanding orders for 13 more units (a total of 20). United also holds orders for larger 787-9 and 787-10 aircraft.
United Airlines 787s are configured in:
- 36 Business First Seats
- 70 Economy Plus Seats
- 113 Economy Seats
For those who want a modern plane across the pacific in a reasonable configuration, this could be a great benefit. Just avoid the back of the plane – its traditional 787 squeezeliner territory there in 3-3-3.
Although with today’s announcement of the new seating on Boeing 737s and CRJ-700s, you should all be used to sitting on benches for long haul flights…
(As you may have guessed, I’m not a fan on slimline seating…)
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