Vancouver Set to Receive First 787 Service

A Japan Airlines 787 arriving at San Diego for the First Time

On Tuesday Vancouver International Airport announced that Japan Airlines would be the first carrier to bring the Boeing 787 with regularly scheduled service beginning February 3^rd 2014.

“Metro Vancouver’s community of aviation enthusiasts – me included – is thrilled to welcome the Dreamliner to YVR,” said Craig Richmond, President & CEO, Vancouver Airport Authority. “Japan Airlines has connected travelers between Vancouver and Tokyo since 1968. After 45 years of great history and close to 23,000 flights, we are so pleased to celebrate JAL’s next chapter with the latest in aircraft technology.” 

JAL will introduce the 787-8 Dreamliner to the YVR-NRT route using a phased approach, beginning with one weekly flight on Mondays and extending to its daily flights by March 2014. 

This however will not be the first time for the Dreamliner to come to YVR as ANA has had its Seattle flight divert several times for a gas stop when it was too foggy for them to get into SeaTac.

It was originally believed and reported that China Southern was going to be the first airline to operate the 787 into YVR, however they aren't planning on having it operate on the route until February 10^th 2014 just a week after Japan Airlines will start service. But unlike Japan Airlines, China Southern will operate the route daily with the 787 rather than one time a week service.

GEnx Engine ETOPs still on time

Photo Taken at BFI as the first of two GEnx Powered 787's departs on a test flight.

Flight Global reported today that General Electric (GE) is quickly approaching the required number of cycles for it GEnx-1B for Extended Operations commonly referred to as ETOPs. The GEnx-1B is used to power the Boeing 787. Having just surpassed 2000 of the required 3000 test cycles GE says that they are still on schedule for certification to be achieved in April, despite the month that they lost during testing when cracks were discovered on one of the engines main turbine blades just after 1500 cycles.

The cracks were found in January during a normal inspection of the engines after it reached the halfway point of the testing phases. GE pulled the blade off the engine to service it and fix the cracks and was placed back on the engine in late February when testing was then resumed.

Since this was discovered during a normal inspection similar to that of normal operating procedures it was deemed that it did not affect the normal operation of the GEnx-1B and was not any type of abnormal wear and tear.

GE believes that final testing and certification for the engine with the FAA will be completed by October in time for Boeing to deliver the first GEnx-1B powered aircraft to Japan Airlines.