Dreamliner adds new thrill to flying
San Jose Mercury News
TOKYO
As the Boeing 787 Dreamliner nosed upward into the clouds, the engines purred rather than roared.
The recent All Nippon Airways domestic flight was anything but a routine route for many passengers. A year after ANA launched the world’s first 787 flights, Japanese travelers are still agog. Passengers craned necks to glimpse the big bird at Haneda Airport.
In an era when flying is more about diminished expectations than adventure, airlines such as ANA hope the technologically advanced midsize 787 will put some of the thrill back into the air at 35,000 feet. So far, it seems to be working.
“Many, many people are excited,” ANA flight attendant Shoko Yoshimura said aboard the recent 787 flight from Tokyo to Fukuoka on the island of Kyushu.
Silicon Valley travelers will get their chance to board the Dreamliner when ANA begins its five-day-a-week 787 route between Mineta San Jose (Calif.) International and Tokyo’s Narita International airports Jan. 11.
San Francisco International spokesman Michael McCarron said “two or three” carriers he declined to identify expect to start flying 787s out of that airport next year. It was later announced that United Airlines on Monday became the first U.S. airline to take one. It will be based in Houston for crew training, then transition to international service.
The 787’s high-ceiling cabin glows with pastel colors. Its spacious interior, increased cabin pressure and higher humidity are aimed at making cross-the-world journeys less taxing on bodies. And its fuel-sipping technology and ability to cover long distances allows airlines to tear up old business models that left smaller-market airports out of their flight paths. It hasn’t been profitable for airlines to try to fill larger aircraft — such as a 368-passenger Boeing 777-300 — flying into secondary airports. ANA is outfitting its long-haul 787 with only 46 business-class and 112 economy seats.
According to Bloomberg, ANA agreed recently to buy 11 more Dreamliners for delivery beginning in 2018, bringing the total of ordered planes to 66.
The plane has become the envy of the industry. In a survey by ANA of 800 passengers who had flown its 787 between Tokyo and Frankfurt, Germany, 98 percent said they wanted another chance to fly the Dreamliner, no matter what airline’s logo was on the plane. A quarter of them said they’d go out of their way to board the new aircraft again.
It offers perks that even those who sit in economy can enjoy. Passengers stepping onto an ANA 787 are greeted by flight attendants standing in the chamberlike entrance with a high ceiling — creating a sense of airy space rather than the feeling of entering a cramped tube.
“It’s a very beautiful plane and very comfortable to ride on,” said one passenger on the Tokyo-Fukuoka flight.
He was particularly taken with the lavatory enhancements — toilets equipped with bidet spray options. Two bathrooms also have windows.
Overhead bins are so high that steps are built into the base of seats so flight attendants can reach the compartments without the risk of falling onto passengers. The plane boasts one of the largest galleys in the sky.
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