Boeing Hands First 787 Dreamliner Keys To ANA (+ CoolPix)

First 787 in special livery handed over to ANA in 9.26.11 ceremony (photo: Boeing)

Watch the official ceremony at noon eastern at:
http://www.newairplane.com/787/firstDelivery

 It's way behind schedule but still light years ahead of anything else in the commercial sky... the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is finally delivered to launch customer ANA (All Nippon Airways) and you can watch the official delivery ceremony at noon eastern time by following the link above. The keys to this first 787 may have actually been handed over on Sunday as the paperwork was signed to get both the airline closer to scheduled Dreamliner service and the airframer in the 787 delivery business.

 The first scheduled passenger flight is set for October 26th between Tokyo (Narita) and Hong Kong. This actually appears to be a charter flight with the first regularly scheduled commercial passenger flight scheduled for November 1st.

 It's been a really long and difficult road, but I still stand by my view from years back that believes the 787 will eventually replace the 747 as the most important and successful aircraft in Boeing history. Time will tell.

(click pic for hi-res)

 Here's an interesting hi-res CoolPix I took of the prototype 787 at Oshkosh 2011. Seeing the airplane up close, and getting to walk thru it convinced me all the more that this is one great aircraft. I can't wait to get the chance to ride one!