Japan Airlines brings Boeing's Dreamliner to India

Japan Airlines has become the first airline to launch Dreamliner Boeing 787 flights to India, with the introduction of the aircraft on New Delhi-Tokyo route.

"With the launch of the Dreamliner, India will become the second country in JAL's operations to get this special high end aircraft. This reiterates our commitment to the Indian market. The first Dreamliner service will be launched in India from tomorrow (Tuesday)," Japan Airlines Country Manager Yasushi Isomura told reporters.

Isomura said India is one of the most profitable routes for the Japan Airlines and the company will be able to cater to the demand.

Currently, Japan Airlines runs Boeing 777 service five days a week on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday. With the launch of Dreamliner Boeing 787, it will replace services of Boeing 777 except Thursday.

The company, however, will phase out Boeing 777 in due course and Dreamliner 787 will be operational on all the five days, said Shelly R Egbert, Manager Sales. It will be superior in terms of efficieny and fuel consumption compared with Boeing 777, he said.

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The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a long-range, mid-size wide-body, twin-engine jet airliner developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It seats 210 to 290 passengers, depending on the variant.

Boeing states that it is the company's most fuel-efficient airliner and the world's first major airliner to use composite materials for most of its construction.

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According to Boeing, the 787 consumes 20 per cent less fuel than the similarly-sized 767. Its distinguishing features include a four-panel windshield, noise-reducing chevrons on its engine nacelles, and a smoother nose contour.

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The 787 shares a common type rating with the larger 777 twinjet, allowing qualified pilots to operate both models, due to related design features.

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The aircraft's initial designation was 7E7, prior to its renaming in January 2005. The first 787 was unveiled in a roll-out ceremony on July 8, 2007, at Boeing's Everett assembly factory, by which time it had reached 677 orders; this is more orders from launch to roll-out than any previous wide-body airliner.

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By October 2011, the 787 programme had logged 873 orders from 57 customers, with ILFC having the largest number on order.

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The 787 development and production has involved a large-scale collaboration with numerous suppliers around the globe.

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Final assembly is at the Boeing Everett Factory in Everett, Washington. Assembly is also taking place at a new factory in North Charleston, South Carolina.

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Both sites will deliver 787s to airline customers. Originally planned to enter service in May 2008, the project suffered from multiple delays.

The airliner's maiden flight took place on December 15, 2009, and completed flight testing in mid-2011.

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Final Federal Aviation Administration and European Aviation Safety Agency certification was received in late August 2011 and the first model was delivered in late September 2011. It entered commercial service on October 26, 2011.

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During the late 1990s, Boeing began considering replacement aircraft programmes as sales for the 767 and Boeing 747-400 slowed.

The company proposed two new aircraft, the 747X, which would have lengthened the 747-400 and improved efficiency, and the Sonic Cruiser, which would have achieved 15 per cent higher speeds (about Mach 0.98) while burning fuel at the same rate as the existing 767.

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Market interest for the 747X was tepid, but the Sonic Cruiser had brighter prospects. Several major airlines in the United States, including Continental Airlines, initially showed enthusiasm for the Sonic Cruiser concept, although they also expressed concerns about the operating cost.

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The global airline market was upended by the September 11, 2001, attacks and increased petroleum prices, making airlines more interested in efficiency than speed.

The worst-affected airlines, those in the United States, had been considered the most likely customers of the Sonic Cruiser, and thus Boeing officially cancelled the Sonic Cruiser on December 20, 2002.

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Switching tracks, the company announced an alternative product using Sonic Cruiser technology in a more conventional configuration, the 7E7, on January 29, 2003.

The emphasis on a smaller midsize twinjet rather than a large 747-size aircraft represented a shift from hub-and-spoke theory towards the point-to-point theory, in response to analysis of focus groups.

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The replacement for the Sonic Cruiser project was dubbed the "7E7" (with a development code name of "Y2").

Technology from the Sonic Cruiser and 7E7 was to be used as part of Boeing's project to replace its entire airliner product line, an endeavour called the Yellowstone Project (of which the 7E7 became the first stage).

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Early concept images of the 7E7 included rakish cockpit windows, a dropped nose and a distinctive "shark-fin" tail.

The "E" was said to stand for various things, such as efficiency or environmentally friendly; however, in the end, Boeing claimed that it stood merely for eight.

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In July 2003, a public naming competition was held for the 7E7, for which out of 500,000 votes cast online the winning title was Dreamliner.

Other names in the pool included eLiner, Global Cruiser and Stratoclimber.

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On April 26, 2004, Japanese airline All Nippon Airways became the launch customer for the 7E7 Dreamliner, by announcing a firm order for 50 aircraft with deliveries to begin in late 2008.

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All Nippon Airways' order was initially specified as 30 787-3, 290-330 seat, one-class domestic aircraft, and 20 787-8, long-haul, 210-250 seat, two-class aircraft for regional international routes such as Tokyo Narita-Beijing.

The aircraft would allow All Nippon Airways to open new routes to cities not previously served, such as Denver, Moscow and New Delhi.

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The 787 was designed to become the first production composite airliner, with the fuselage assembled in one-piece composite barrel sections instead of the multiple aluminum sheets and some 50,000 fasteners used on existing aircraft.

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Boeing selected two new engine types to power the 787, the General Electric GEnx and Rolls-Royce Trent 1000.

Boeing claimed the 787 would be near to 20 per cent more fuel-efficient than the 767, with about 40 per cent of the efficiency gain from the engines, plus gains from aerodynamic improvements, the increased use of lighter-weight composite materials and advanced systems.

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During the design phase, the 787 underwent extensive wind tunnel testing at Boeing's Transonic Wind Tunnel, QinetiQ's five-metre wind tunnel at Farnborough, United Kingdom, and Nasa Ames Research Centre's wind tunnel, as well as at the French aerodynamics research agency, Onera.

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The final styling of the aircraft was more conservative than earlier proposals, with the fin, nose, and cockpit windows changed to a more conventional form.