Airlines Singing Praises of The Dreamliner

Above, the Boeing 787 I flew to Japan in last February. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

After a rough start, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has become a favorite jet and the airlines can't sing its praises enough.

According to an article in Aviation Week:

Flying on the Boeing 787 is one of the most sought-after experiences in today’s air transport system—that is the message from airlines operating the new twinjet on a growing network of routes around the world. 

This, of course, was Boeing’s goal from the start of the program a decade ago, but getting there has not been easy. The 787’s troubled development, production and entry into service is well-documented (see interactive feature) and the company learned bitter lessons from it that have been rigorously applied to follow-on 787 derivatives as well as the impending 737 MAX and 777X families. 

Now, with the 787-9 stretch version poised for service entry and more than 160 787-8s delivered, the program is finally entering a calmer phase. After a disappointing start with systems and software-related issues, most airlines are now approaching 777-like reliability levels with their 787 fleets. Many are also using the 787 to open up new point-to-point, long-haul routes that cannot be economically flown by any other aircraft, in most cases. Most significantly, and the raison d’etre for the 787, operators are also reporting significantly lower fuel burn per seat compared with older models such as the 767-300ER—20-22%, depending on the length of the flight.

Most airlines are saying that the Dreamliners are meeting or exceeding their expectations and have noticed the savings in fuel the planes are providing. Passengers are pleased with the comfortable cabin environment and the higher humidity levels.

My February trip to Japan (both ways) were aboard United 787s and I found that the economy seats were comfortable. Now, if we can just get United to fix the food...

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