If you’ve ever wondered how those big birds in the sky are built, take a look at this. British Airways has released a time-lapse video of the building of their first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, which arrived at Heathrow this week.
Doesn’t it look as easy as putting a LEGO plane together? The aircraft, which touched down at Heathrow from Seattle, is the first of 22 787-9s that BA has on order from Boeing. The next arrives in mid-October and a further two by the end of the year.
Pilot Mitch Preston, who flew the aircraft to Heathrow, said: “It’s always a privilege to be the first pilot to fly an aircraft on its delivery flight. I was lucky enough to bring our first 787-8 to Heathrow in 2013 too.
“Flying with just the small delivery team on board is a very different experience to a normal flight with customers on board. I’m really looking forward to the first one of those – I think our customers will really enjoy the latest addition to our fleet.”
The Dreamliner will start flying to Delhi from October 25, followed by Abu Dhabi and Muscat from November 5. The 787-9 will also fly to Kuala Lumpur in December and in February the aircraft will start flights to Austin.
The 787-9 is 20ft longer that its 787-8 predecessor (of which the airline has eight), so as well as offering World Traveller (economy), World Traveller Plus (premium economy) and Club World (business class), there’s also room for a new First cabin – a first for the airline’s 787 fleet.
