LAN Airlines Takes Delivery of Its First Boeing 787-9

LAN Airlines, a core member of LATAM Airlines Group, has taken delivery of the airline’s first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

LATAM Airlines Group, the largest airline group in Latin America, is leasing the new Boeing 787-9 from Amsterdam-based lessor AerCap.

LAN Airlines, one of the core members of the LATAM Airlines Group, took delivery of the group’s first 787-9 on February 6, 2015. LATAM Airlines Group is leasing the new aircraft from Amsterdam-based lessor AerCap, which inherited ownership of ILFC’s Boeing 787 orders when it bought the Los Angeles-based leasing company in 2014

AerCap owns the aircraft through inheriting ownership of U.S. lessor International Lease Finance Corporation’s orders for more than 70 Boeing 787s, whn it purchased the Los Angeles-based leasing company in 2014 to become the world’s largest aircraft leasing group.

Oneworld alliance member LAN Airlines will become Latin America’s first operator of both the 787-8 and 787-9 versions of the Dreamliner family, when the airline launches 787-9 services on South American routes in April.

With this delivery, LAN Airlines will have 11 787s in its fleet, the most operated to date by any carrier based in Latin America. LAN Airlines is building a fleet of 32 Boeing 787 widebodies, including 10 787-9s, over the next several years.

To date, 58 customers have ordered more than 1,070 787s, and more than 200 Dreamliners have been delivered. All have been 787-8s or 787-9s: the third and largest planned version of the Dreamliner family, the 787-10, has yet to fly.