United Airlines will debut the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner on transcontinental flights between New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco as part of an enhanced schedule starting January 9.
The first North American service of the Boeing’s newest Dreamliner comes as United has ordered a further nine 787-9s, pushing total orders for technologically advanced plane towards the 1400 mark.
United will operate the bigger 787-10 on select flights between New York-Newark and Los Angeles and New York-Newark and San Francisco.
It will also increase its transcontinental schedule by boosting the number of flights between New York and Los Angeles and San Francisco to 27 daily, adding more than 700 daily seats and 125 daily premium seats with better flight times.
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"We have created the best schedule for our business and leisure customers by offering more choice and more convenience when planning travel between coasts. Combined with the addition of our newest aircraft, the Boeing 787-10, the schedule enhancements build on United's industry-leading onboard experience," United vice president of domestic network planning and scheduling said in a statement.
United is the North American carrier to operate the 787-10 which features 44 of the airline’s flagship United Polaris seats, 21 United premium Plus seats which will initially be sold as Economy Plus, 54 Economy Plus seats and 199 economy seats.
The 787-10, which flies up to 6430 nautical miles and uses 20 percent less fuel than older generation planes, is part of a strategy by United to upgrade its fleet.
It started flying the Dreamliner in 2012 and currently operates 25 787-9 aircraft, as well as 12 smaller 787-8s, that service intercontinental routes as Houston-Sydney and San Franciso-Singapore.
It will have 40 Dreamliners in its fleet by year’s end with 24 on order.
The additional nine aircraft it announced Monday are due to be delivered in 2020.
Boeing said the latest order continued strong momentum for the Dreamliner family with net orders now above 100 for the year and just one shy of the 1400 mark since the beginning of the program.
Nearly half of all 787 customers have returned to place repeat orders, making it the fastest-selling widebody jet in history
“The 787 Dreamliner has been so successful in the marketplace because of great partners like United Airlines that have taken the airplane's unrivaled performance to open new routes and offer passengers a wonderful travel experience," said Ihssane Mounir, Boeing’s senior vice president of commercial sales & marketing.
Separately, Qatar Airways has upgraded five of its current order of A350-900s to A350-1000s.
The airline has already taken delivery of 27 A350-900s and three A350-1000s from a total order of 76 A350s.
Qatar was the launch customer for both versions of the A350 and said the strong performance of the aircraft and the need for extra capacity were key factors in the latest announcement.
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