Boeing 787 Dreamliner completes pre-service testing in Japan for ANA

Manila Bulletin
July 16, 2011

 MANILA, Philippines — As it gets closer to delivering the first 787 Dreamliner, Boeing Co. (BA) said that it had a completed a week of pre-service tests with launch customer All Nippon Airways Co. in Japan.

Designed to mimic actual airplane operations – minus the passengers – the so-called Service Ready Operational Validation saw Boeing and the airline fly a Dreamliner on actual routes throughout Japan, and gave the airline's pilots and operations and maintenance personnel the chance to put the plane through its paces.

Tasks included baggage and cargo loading, parking at gates and simulated maintenance procedures, the companies said. Boeing used Dreamliner test plane No. 2, which is the only one of the six test jets painted in ANA's livery.

"Giving our team a chance to work with the airplane prior to entry into service was very valuable," Katsunori Shimazaki, ANA corporate planning senior manager, said in a statement. "Our crews are excited to begin operating the first 787 revenue flights later this year."

Boeing is expected to deliver the first Dreamliner, more than three years behind schedule, to ANA sometime in August or September. ANA has said it will begin using the new twin-engine wide-body on domestic routes before launching it on international service sometime next year. Last month, ANA officials said the first Dreamliner route would be from Tokyo's Haneda airport to either Okayama or Hiroshima.

The company has 55 of the planes on order, all powered by engines from Rolls-Royce Group PLC.

Before deliveries can begin, however, the Dreamliner must be certified for passenger use in the US by the Federal Aviation Administration. 787's destined for ANA require certification from Japan's aviation regulators.

Separately, on Monday Boeing acknowledged it was halting final assembly of Dreamliners at its factory in Everett, Wash., for about a month to address supply chain issues. Last year, Boeing temporarily held up the assembly line on four separate occasions to correct problems along its global supply chain and to allow some suppliers time and breathing room to catch up. Boeing declined to identify a root cause of this month's production delay--the year's first--but said it would not affect the timing of first customer delivery.