Apparently you can see the handover of the 787 from Boeing to ANA (at last) at 0900h US Pacific time Monday 26th- midday US Eastern time, 2am Sydney on the 27th and oddly 1am Tokyo on the 27th.

I would have thought an afternoon time in Seattle would have been better. It would allowed people to watch it live at a civilised hour in the Airline’s home country. eg 8am Tokyo time which equals 4pm Seattle time.

Wonder why this timing?

The Good News: The 787 has been passed as compliant with all US and European safety regulations!

The first plane will be delivered on September 26. This is later than I had hoped! For ANA have always said they would start flying the plane one month after delivery.

The first ANA 787 commercial flight is a “charter flight” on October 26, from Narita to Hong Kong (and return). 100 Economy passengers will be on board, chosen by lottery from people who book on the ANA website. Business class seats will be sold by auction with proceeds going to charity. You can win a seat too. See my post from last Friday.

This will be followed by some excursion flights on October 28 and 29 from Narita – to Narita.

The first commercial flight will take place on November 1 on a domestic route from  Tokyo’s Haneda airport to Okayama and onto Hiroshima.

In December, the new plane will start a weekly international service from Haneda to Beijing followed by thrice weekly Haneda to Frankfurt Germany in January, 2012.  In February, the Frankfurt service will go daily.

My goal has been to get on the 787 for my 787th flight but the timing of the launch (which clearly was not planned around me) is almost out of reach!

It looks like Boeing will finally deliver the 787 to ANA in September, 2011. The inaugural flight is therefore going to be in October, 2011.

Until September 5th, 2011 go to ANA’s Facebook page, like them and then upload a picture of you smiling with the numbers 787.

A winner receives two tickets to Japan for the inaugural 787 flight, between Tokyo’s Narita airport and Hong Kong.

The flight will take off approximately one month after the delivery of the aircraft and seats will also be available via a special package tour organised by ANA.

Following the charter service to Hong Kong, ANA will operate two domestic excursion flights to allow frequent flier customers to fly on the 787.

I want to be there!

I am excited! The 787 has started a series of simulation flights around japan to test the airliner in service. Here are some great pics from Seattle‘s Post Inquirer newspaper.

A Boeing 787 (middle) taxis Behind a Boeing 767 after arriving from Seattle at Tokyo‘s Haneda International Airport on Sunday, July 3, 2011 -Seattle PI

787 is welcomed to Japan

I want to fly on it soon!