British Airways Takes Delivery of Its First Boeing 787

British Airways has taken delivery of its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

BA’s first Boeing 787-8 departed Paine Field in Everett, Washington on Wednesday, June 26, arriving at London Heathrow Airport on June 27 at 12:10 pm local time.

This photograph shows British Airways’ first Boeing 787 departing Paine Field in Everett, Washington on June 26, 2013 on its delivery flight to London Heathrow Airport

“The 787 is a tremendous, innovative aircraft which sets new standards for environmental performance and operating efficiency and I’m sure British Airways’ customers will love it,” says Willie Walsh, chief executive officer of International Airlines Group (IAG), the company that owns British Airways. “The 787 will become a mainstay of the British Airways fleet over the next few years.”

British Airways has announced that the airline will operate the 787 from Heathrow to Toronto from September 1 and from Heathrow to Newark Liberty International Airport from October 1.

To promote its new Boeing 787 services, British Airways is offering special fares from both cities to London Heathrow. For travel from Toronto and New York (JFK or Newark), fares begin at $787 round-trip in World Traveller economy.

In World Traveller Plus, the airline’s premium economy cabin, fares begin from $1,290 round-trip and in BA’s Club World business class cabin, fares start from $2,787 round-trip. All fares include taxes, fees and carrier charges.

The fare sale runs until July 1. Travel dates are between October 25 and December 15, and December 25, 2013 and March 24, 2014.

On a Boeing 787 with Rolls-Royce engines, such as those to be operated by British Airways, UK companies make about 25 per cent of the aircraft by value.

The British Airways Boeing 787-8 carries 214 passengers and is configured with 35 seats in Club World, 25 in World Traveller Plus and 154 seats in the World Traveller cabin.

British Airways operates more than 140 Boeing jets within its fleet including 52 Boeing 777s, as well as 52 747s ‒ which is now the world’s largest 747 fleet.

To date British Airways has 24 Boeing 787s on firm order. In addition, IAG recently announced that it will convert options on 18 787s to firm orders for British Airways, subject to shareholder agreement.

Of these aircraft, 12 will be 787-10s, meaning British Airways will operate the entire 787 family – the 787-8, 787-9 and the 787-10.

British Airways employs approximately 40,000 people, most of them based in the UK, although it has staff based in more than 75 countries around the world.

The airline has 14,500 flight attendants and 3,500 pilots. BA’s route network serves almost 180 destinations and it operates more than 300,000 flights per year.