The delivery ceremony of Singapore Airlines’ first 787-10 at Boeing’s North Charleston final assembly line. (Boeing/Twitter)
Boeing has formally handed over the first 787-10 to launch customer Singapore Airlines (SIA).
The official ribbon-cutting took place at Boeing’s North Charleston final assembly line on Monday evening (US time), with the event attended by SIA chief executive Goh Choon Phong, Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief executive Kevin McAllister and Rolls-Royce director for customers and services, civil aerospace Dominic Horwood.
Goh described the 787-10 as a “magnificent piece of engineering and truly a work of art”.
“It is an honour for us to be the world’s first airline to take delivery of this amazing aircraft,” Goh said in a statement.
“It will be an important element in our overall growth strategy, enabling us to expand our network and strengthen our operations.”
“The delivery of the first 787-10 underscores our longstanding commitment to operate a modern fleet, and marks the start of a new chapter in our shared story with Boeing.”
The delivery flight of the aircraft to Singapore, via Osaka, is scheduled to take off from North Charleston on Tuesday (local time), landing at Changi Airport on Wednesday. From left, Rolls-Royce Director Customers and Services – Civil Aerospace Dominic Horwood, Singapore Airlines chief executive Goh Choon Phong and Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and chief executive Kevin McAllister (Boeing/Singapore Airlines)
Australia will welcome the Boeing 787-10 to these shores for the first time on May 8 when Singapore Airlines (SIA) commences flights to Perth with the next generation widebody.
The airline is switching its daily SQ215/216 rotation from Airbus A330-300 equipment to the 787-10. The flights are scheduled as an evening departure from Singapore, touching down in Perth just before midnight. After about an hour on the ground, the reciprocal SQ216 takes off a little after 0100 for an early morning arrival back in Singapore.
Currently, SIA flies four times daily between Perth and Singapore with a mixture of Boeing 777-200 and A330-300s.
As the aircraft will primarily be deployed within Asia Pacific on routes of up eight hours’ duration, SIA has chosen a two-class layout for the 787-10, comprising 36 new, soon-to-be-revealed, regional business class seats offering direct aisle access for every passenger, and 301 economy class seats in a 3-3-3 layout for a total of 337.
In addition to the improvement in cabin amenities, the switch to the 787-10 also represented a capacity increase of about five per cent on the Perth-Singapore route, given the 777-200s and A330-300s have 266 and 285 seats, respectively.
Perth is the second announced scheduled destination for SIA’s incoming batch of 787-10s. After some short-haul flights to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur for crew familiarisation purposes following first delivery, SIA will deploy the aircraft on the Singapore-Osaka route from May.
SIA has 49 787-10s on order with Boeing. Once the first of the type is delivered, the airline group will have all three Dreamliner variants in its operations, given low-cost carrier Scoot’s fleet comprises both the 787-8 and 787-9. Singapore Airlines 787-10s at Boeing’s North Charleston final assembly line. (Boeing/Singapore Airlines)
The 787-10 is the largest variant of Boeing’s 787 program and is capable of flying 6,430nm when configured with 330 passengers in a two-class layout, according to Boeing figures.
At 68.2m, the 787-10 is a 5.5m stretch on the 787-9 that began flying in August 2014. The first 787 variant, the -8, made its commercial debut in October 2011 with launch customer All Nippon Airways (ANA).
The 787-10 received its amended type certificate from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in late January, following a flight test program that kicked off in March 2017 and accumulated 900 test hours.
Apart from SIA, airlines that fly to Australia and have ordered the 787-10 included ANA, British Airways, Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways, EVA Air and United.
Aviation thinktank CAPA – Centre for Aviation said the 787-10 was a key component of SIA’s fleet strategy as it would help lower costs and usher in a new phase of growth as older A330-300s and 777-200/200ERs are withdrawn.
“The lower unit costs generated by 787-10s enable SIA to compete better in an intensely competitive regional market – against LCCs, as well as aggressive full service airlines,” CAPA said in a research note dated February 21.
“SIA the parent airline has not grown over the past decade and is betting that the 787-10 is the right platform to support a resumption of growth.”
“The 787-10, which will account for more than a third of SIA’s fleet in 2023, could be a game changer for SIA.”
The Boeing website lists 171 orders for the 787-10 as of January 2018.
Boeing also covered the delivery ceremony on Twitter.
This content is available exclusively to Australian Aviation members.
Login
Become a Member
To continue reading the rest of this article, please login.Forgot password?
To unlock all Australian Aviation magazine content and again unlimited access to our daily news and features, become a member today! A monthly membership is only $5.99 or save with our annual plans.
“This is a big day for all of us at Boeing and for our global supplier partners,” McAllister said.
“We are thrilled to deliver the first 787-10 Dreamliner to Singapore Airlines, one of the world’s leading carriers. And we are honoured by Singapore Airlines’ partnership and trust, as reflected by their repeated orders for the Dreamliner.” The delivery ceremony of Singapore Airlines’ first 787-10 at Boeing’s North Charleston final assembly line. (Boeing/Twitter)
Looks absolutely stunning, especially with the SQ livery. Can’t wait to see this bird in Aussie skies!
Darren
says:
Beautiful airplane <3
–
@qantas possible replacement for the old A330s?
Jonathan Ventham
says:
nice!
SIA have it all together compared to QF
David
says:
An honour for Singapore Airlines to be the launch customer. I congratulate them. Not sure I like the flight time from PER to SIN though.
David Fix
says:
Congrats to Singapore Airlines on the delivery of their first 787-10
Doug
says:
Typical QF always playing catch up on aircraft modernisation. Fancy still running old 747-400’s.
Isaac
says:
I already have a ticket for PER-SIN in biz for October, can’t wait to see the new biz class!
Patrickk
says:
Worth noting SQ profitablity vis a vis Qantas. In terms of ‘having it all together’ or ‘playing catch up’. As a shareholder give me Qantas any day.. Qantas will get 78-10s when A333s are fully depreciated in 2022 or so.
Wayne
says:
BIG Congrats to SIA – (still the best in my books). Also I think the different uniform colors of the flight crew are super attractive. Some Aussie operators would do well to take a leaf out of SIA’s book. I hope to try their A350 from BNE later in year. Happy travels to all.
Michael
says:
What a great looking aircraft! With the Qantas strategy to bypass the 777 while everyone else embraced it was foolish! The 787-10 should be considered for it’s future aircraft replacement program,
P.S. That main gear? Why not 777 type?
Craigy
says:
@ Patrickk well said!
@ Michael Geoff Dixon in an interview as CEO of Qantas responded to a question about the B777 from Aus Aviation (Geoffrey Thomas I think) stated that the B777 was looked at many times but a business case could not be made to purchase the aircraft. Each airline has different operational requirements and Qantas does extensive modelling before selecting aircraft. Your statement calling Qantas foolish is an uninformed opinion.
@Doug Gee fancy those other backward airlines like British Airways, Thai, KLM, Lufthansa and Korean still using these broken down relics
I think the A333 will be replaced by the winner of project sunrise. Alan Joyce’s comments this week in London suggests that the aircraft must be able to meet the demands for ultra long haul and also regional medium haul. This makes a lot of sense and suggests an initial order of around 30 aircraft. Other airlines no doubt are watching to see what Airbus and Boeing offer to see how the aircraft meets their future aspirations. An exciting time I think.
The next interesting decision will be from ANZ and Virgin.
James Loughran
says:
Can’t wait to fly the new dreamliner Perth to Singapore December 18
iscover
Riplander
says:Looks absolutely stunning, especially with the SQ livery. Can’t wait to see this bird in Aussie skies!
Darren
says:Beautiful airplane <3
–
@qantas possible replacement for the old A330s?
Jonathan Ventham
says:nice!
SIA have it all together compared to QF
David
says:An honour for Singapore Airlines to be the launch customer. I congratulate them. Not sure I like the flight time from PER to SIN though.
David Fix
says:Congrats to Singapore Airlines on the delivery of their first 787-10
Doug
says:Typical QF always playing catch up on aircraft modernisation. Fancy still running old 747-400’s.
Isaac
says:I already have a ticket for PER-SIN in biz for October, can’t wait to see the new biz class!
Patrickk
says:Worth noting SQ profitablity vis a vis Qantas. In terms of ‘having it all together’ or ‘playing catch up’. As a shareholder give me Qantas any day.. Qantas will get 78-10s when A333s are fully depreciated in 2022 or so.
Wayne
says:BIG Congrats to SIA – (still the best in my books). Also I think the different uniform colors of the flight crew are super attractive. Some Aussie operators would do well to take a leaf out of SIA’s book. I hope to try their A350 from BNE later in year. Happy travels to all.
Michael
says:What a great looking aircraft! With the Qantas strategy to bypass the 777 while everyone else embraced it was foolish! The 787-10 should be considered for it’s future aircraft replacement program,
P.S. That main gear? Why not 777 type?
Craigy
says:@ Patrickk well said!
@ Michael Geoff Dixon in an interview as CEO of Qantas responded to a question about the B777 from Aus Aviation (Geoffrey Thomas I think) stated that the B777 was looked at many times but a business case could not be made to purchase the aircraft. Each airline has different operational requirements and Qantas does extensive modelling before selecting aircraft. Your statement calling Qantas foolish is an uninformed opinion.
@Doug Gee fancy those other backward airlines like British Airways, Thai, KLM, Lufthansa and Korean still using these broken down relics
I think the A333 will be replaced by the winner of project sunrise. Alan Joyce’s comments this week in London suggests that the aircraft must be able to meet the demands for ultra long haul and also regional medium haul. This makes a lot of sense and suggests an initial order of around 30 aircraft. Other airlines no doubt are watching to see what Airbus and Boeing offer to see how the aircraft meets their future aspirations. An exciting time I think.
The next interesting decision will be from ANZ and Virgin.
James Loughran
says:Can’t wait to fly the new dreamliner Perth to Singapore December 18