All Nippon Airways (ANA) has revealed plans to order 11 more Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
The new deal will make the Tokyo-based carrier the world’s largest operator of the Dreamliner, with a total of 66 aircraft expected to be in service by 2021.
ANA was the launch customer of Boeing’s fuel-efficient B787, taking delivery of its first aircraft in September last year. It has since received 13 of an initial order for 55 Dreamliners.
Earlier this year, ANA announced that it has changed its initial B787 order, swapping the smaller B787-8 for the longer B787-9. The new order, valued at US$2.68 billion at list prices, is for 11 B787-9s to be delivered between 2018 and 2021. Once all deliveries are complete ANA will operate a fleet of 36 B787-8s and 30 B787-9s.
ANA said the new aircraft formed part of its long-term plan to gradually replace its B767 and B777-200 aircraft with the more efficient B787. Currently ANA operates a range of different B787-8 Dreamliner configurations, with 158 seats for long-haul flights, 222 seats on short-haul routes, and 335 seats on domestic services. The B787-9 is 6.1 metres longer than the B787-8, and ANA told Travel Daily recently that it will be able to carry approximately 30% more passengers.
ANA’s Dreamliner currently operate on eight domestic Japanese routes and one international sector – Tokyo Haneda to Frankfurt. The airline is also planning to launch Dreamliner flights from Tokyo Narita to San Jose from January next year, while the current Narita–Seattle and Haneda-Beijing services will switch to the B787 from 1 and 28 October respectively.
