Etihad introduces the 787 to Perth

B787-9 Etihad A6-BLF Perth 30May16 Keith Anderson 1 — Etihad’s first 787 flight to Perth on approach to land on Monday. (Keith Anderson)

Etihad Airways has introduced the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner onto its daily flight to Perth, replacing the Airbus A330-200.

The change of equipment was officially marked on Thursday, but the airline’s first 787 flight to Perth in fact landed on Monday thanks to an unscheduled aircraft substitution.

787-9 A6-BLF operated that unofficial first flight, touching down at 1:47pm on Monday after a 10 hour and 4 minute flight from Abu Dhabi. The official first flight was then operated by A6-BLG, which touched down at 1:22pm on Thursday, as captured by this Perth Airport video:

.@EtihadAirways' first scheduled service using their stylish B787-9 #Dreamliner has touched down! pic.twitter.com/VEhg2CZGj5

— Perth Airport (@PerthAirport) June 2, 2016

“Since launching flights between Perth and Abu Dhabi two years ago we have enjoyed strong two-way demand from business and leisure travellers on the route,” Etihad Airways senior vice president of marketing, Shane O’Hare, said in a statement on Thursday.

“The Dreamliner, which adds 518 weekly seats to the route, gives us the extra capacity needed to meet this ever-increasing demand.”

Etihad’s 787-9s are configured with 28 business ‘studios’ and 271 economy ‘Smart Seats’.

Perth is Etihad’s second Australian port to be served by the 787-9 after the aircraft was deployed on the Brisbane route in June 2015.