Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner made its first landing in Japan over the weekend, completing its maiden trans-Pacific journey on Sunday, The Associated Press reports. The jet is now set to undergo further flight testing with Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA), which is scheduled to be the launch customer for the ballyhooed-but-much-delayed Dreamliner.
AP writes “the 787’s much-anticipated arrival marks the near-end of a long wait by ANA, the first customer in line for the next-generation aircraft. Boeing missed the initial May 2008 delivery target and has repeatedly delayed its introduction because of problems in development.”
“It’s been a long wait,” ANA spokesma Hidetaka Sakai says to Bloomberg News. “We want to compete with global air companies with this plane.”
As for the Dreamliner ‘s maiden flight to Japan, AP notes it took off from Boeing’s facilities near Seattle before touching down early Sunday morning at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport “to applause and a white ‘Welcome to Japan’ banner held by flight attendants and workers. Two fire trucks shot out celebratory arches of water as the aircraft approached the hangar.”