Delivery Dates for Aircraft 5 and 6 are:
VH-ZNE - 6 July 2018
VH-ZNF - 22 August 2018.

There is no date yet for either ZNG or ZNH, but H is due in 11/2018, so I guess G will come in September or October.

Parts are arriving for the assembly of the first QANTAS 787-9, VH-ZNA.

Delivery is listed as 12/10/2017.

Final assembly for first Qantas 787 about to commence

Final assembly of the first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner for Qantas is about to begin after the aircraft’s major components arrived at Boeing’s Everett facility last week.
Qantas currently has eight 787-9s on order (11 787-8s are already in service with subsidiary Jetstar), with the first aircraft planned for delivery in mid-October.
Major components for that aircraft, comprising its nose, tail, fuselage and wings, arrived from their suppliers at Everett last week via Boeing’s 747-400LCF Dreamlifter aircraft ahead of final assembly commencing next Monday.

The final assembly process is expected to take 18 working days, with the aircraft planned to roll off the production line by the end of the month before entering the paint shop.

Typically the aircraft would then undertake two test flights with Boeing and then one or two customer acceptance flights ahead of formal handover to Qantas.

http://australianaviation.com.au/201...t-to-commence/

Hopefully Qantas announces the on August 25 the next orders (the last 15 purchase options) For 6 in 2H FY19 and 9 in FY20.

This would bring the 787 fleet to 23 by the end of FY2020

This would then leave the last 30 orders being delivered from FY2021 to the end of FY2025. This would mean 6 deliveries per FY year bringing the total to 53 787s.

http://painefield.blogspot.com.au/20....html?spref=fb


First Tail shot of VH-ZNA at Paine Field

Qantas ads are currently suggesting Canada will be served by a Dreamliner.

New pics of mated fuselage.

Qantas’s first 787-9 in final assembly

Qantas’s first Boeing 787-9 is now under final assembly ahead of its anticipated October delivery date.
A photo posted to Qantas’s Instagram account on Friday shows the fuselage joined to the nose and tail, while the wings were in the process of being attached at Boeing’s Everett facility.
Qantas said recently final assembly would begin on August 10 and take 18 working days to complete, with the aircraft due to roll off the production line by the end of August before entering the paintshop.
The major components for that aircraft, slated to have registration VH-ZNA, such as the nose, tail, fuselage and wings, arrived from their suppliers at Everett at the start of August.

Typically the aircraft would then undertake two test flights with Boeing and then one or two customer acceptance flights ahead of formal handover to Qantas.

http://australianaviation.com.au/201...inal-assembly/

When should the routes for the second 4 of 787s be released?

Who knows???? You have to be in the "inner" circle to know. I have a friend who is an A.380 pilot and he does not know yet. However, OEB leaves in mid 2018 after the 4 week round the world tour and OJS,T,U are due to leave during the period when ZNE,F,G,H go into service so it is a guessing game. E is due in July, F in August, G in September and H in November. I suppose the other question is which routes will still have a 744ER by December 2018??

Will be a while before any announcement with the new heads moving into their roles including Qantas International.

QANTAS 787-9 domestic service prior to LAX operations commencing in December, 2017 has been released. Sydney gets six services per week with QF442 arriving on Saturday at 16:25 and QF460 arriving at 19:55 Monday to Friday. QF439 departs at 14:00 on Saturday and QF497 departs at 22:05 on Monday to Friday. These times are based on current schedules. I'm not sure how the Saturday schedule will work with the 787-9 leaving Sydney at 14:00 and arriving back at 16:25 with only one aircraft delivered by 6 November but is subject to change.

Source: Airline Routes Online

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT, the second group of four 789's to be based in Brisbane.



"Media Releases

QANTAS TO BASE FOUR DREAMLINERS IN BRISBANE

Brisbane

Published on 29th August 2017


BRISBANE, 29 August 2017 – Qantas today announced that four 787-9 Dreamliners will be based in Brisbane, bringing 470 new jobs and opening up new potential international routes.

The first of eight Dreamliners ordered by the national carrier will be delivered from Boeing in late October this year, and the first to be based in Brisbane will arrive in mid-2018. All four Brisbane-based aircraft will be in place by the end of 2018.

Qantas Group CEO, Alan Joyce, said basing four of the airline’s Dreamliners in Brisbane will help drive international tourism into the state over the long term.

“Queensland is the birthplace of Qantas and it’s fitting that we will base four of our Dreamliners in the state. The 787 offers a step-change for customers in terms of comfort and efficiency and we are pleased Queenslanders will be able to experience them direct from Brisbane.

“Each aircraft we base in Brisbane brings new jobs. One hundred and twenty of our Dreamliner cabin crew and pilots will be based in the city, with many choosing to settle in the state. A further 350 indirect jobs are expected to be created as a result.

“We’ve said that initially our Dreamliners will replace the routes that our older 747 fly but there are also new destinations we are looking at given the capability of the aircraft. A range of exciting options is on the table that will help drive tourism to the state and we look forward to making that decision in coming months.

“I’d like to acknowledge the support of the Queensland Government, Brisbane Airport Corporation and Tourism Australia for helping to make our Brisbane Dreamliner base a reality,” said Mr Joyce.

From Brisbane, the Qantas Dreamliner is capable of flying non-stop to destinations such as Seattle, Chicago and San Francisco in the United States, Vancouver in Canada, as well as Asia.

Qantas recently completed the reconfiguration of its A330 fleet at its Brisbane hangar and is installing Wi-Fi on a number of its 737 and A330 aircraft, that operate domestically, at the airline’s Brisbane base.

In 2016 Qantas opened its new International Business Lounge and opened a new domestic lounge precinct with a Business Lounge and Valet earlier this year. The Qantas Club in Brisbane is due to open in coming months.

Qantas operates 58 return, direct international services each week from Brisbane to Auckland, Christchurch, Queenstown, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Noumea, Port Moresby, Singapore and Tokyo. The airline also operates more than 620 return services from Brisbane per week to 25 destinations across its domestic network and more than 390 return services per week to 20 destinations within Queensland.

In December 2016 Qantas announced that the airline’s first four in its fleet of eight Dreamliners would be based in Melbourne, serving the Melbourne – Los Angeles route from December 2017 and the Melbourne – London (via Perth) route from March 2018. This is the world’s first service to link Australia directly with the UK.

Qantas will take delivery of its first Dreamliner in October 2017 with the 787-9 operating on domestic sectors for six weeks for crew training and familiarisation before its first scheduled Melbourne – Los Angeles service on 15 December 2017.

More information on the Qantas Dreamliner can be found here."

More on initial routes

Qantas 787-9 to enter service in November on domestic routes, preliminary schedules show

Qantas has filed preliminary flight schedules showing its soon-to-arrive Boeing 787-9 will operate domestic services from Melbourne to Perth and Sydney prior to commencing long-haul services to Los Angeles.

The airline is due to take delivery of its first 787-9 in the middle of October, with an exact delivery date yet to be officially confirmed.

While nonstop Melbourne-Los Angeles flights with the 787-9 are due to take off from December 15, preliminary filings with global distribution systems (GDS) showed Qantas planned to operate regular public transport (RPT) domestic flights from November 6.

The Airlineroute website reports the Qantas 787-9 schedule comprises six flights a week between Melbourne and Perth and six flights a week on the Melbourne-Sydney route from November 6 to December 14.

A Qantas spokesperson confirmed to Australian Aviation that the preliminary filings had been entered into the GDS. However, the spokesperson stressed the schedule was only preliminary and subject to change pending confirmation of the final delivery date and associated preparations for the entry into service of the new aircraft type.

Further, Qantas will communicate with the travelling public how to book those domestic 787-9 flights once the schedule is officially locked in.

The airline currently has eight 787-9s on order, with 11 787-8s already in service with subsidiary Jetstar.

They will feature a premium-heavy 236-seat interior: 42 seats in business class (in a 1-2-1 configuration), 28 in premium economy (at 2-3-2 abreast) and 166 in economy (at nine abreast), but it is expected that the 787-9 domestic services would be sold as a two-class (business and economy) flight.

The first Qantas 787-9, to be registered VH-ZNA, recently rolled off the final assembly line at Boeing’s Everett facility.

http://australianaviation.com.au/201...mestic-routes/

It's a bit like death by a million press releases.

[QUOTE=Dennis McLean;104363]BIG ANNOUNCEMENT, the second group of four 789's to be based in Brisbane.



"Media Releases

QANTAS TO BASE FOUR DREAMLINERS IN BRISBANE

Unfortunately this will most likely be the end of the BNE-LAX 747.:(

Two 787-9s to operate QF15/16 BRI - LAX. Where will the the other two Dreamliners fly to from BRI?

To replace the remaining non ER 744s doesn't there need to be 787-9 services from SYD - SFO. Will they operate BRI - SFO? I wouldn't have thought so but maybe a couple of times a week and then return SFO - SYD? Can they base the crew and aircraft in Brisbane and still operate from Sydney. Only if they triangulate through the same US city, unless they position the aircraft from Brisbane to Sydney.

This is doing my head in!!!

Rumor has it that Perth-Paris will be the next announcement. This could make it LAX-BNE-PER-CDG.

Wouldn't that be JFK-LAX-BNE-PER-CDG return?

Would not have the time to add LAX/JFK/LAX which would be about 9 hours plus and extra 90 mins on the ground in both JFK & LAX. Check the times for MEL to LAX and LHR. About 5 hours on the ground in MEL, 90min PER, 5 hours LHR, 90 mins PER, 90 mins MEL then about 4 hours in LAX. Almost LCC times?????

Agree with Ryan though. Given the current BNE-LAX-JFK flights, something would need to change for CDG to be serviced through PER from BNE

I cannot believe that Joyce would replace a Daily 744 with 364 seats with a daily 789 with 236 seats on BNE/LAX/BNE. That is a reduction of 896 seats. But then look at MEL/DXB/LHR, a 388 to a 789 and remember that not all those seats (236) will start in MEL. So He is just giving seats away to competitors.
Perhaps the second 2 789's will do a daily to another city like Dallas or Chicago or 3 days to Dallas and 4 to Chicago. What is the use of a BNE/YVR as AC has that tied up. Remember that the 388 fleet will have a dedicated need for 9 Aircraft, 3 SYD-LHR, 4 - SYD & MEL-LAX, and 2 SYD-DFW. With 1 in maintenance most of the time, where will the other 2 from MEL/LHR be scheduled, perhaps 1 on SYD/HKG permanently. Any thoughts.

Could the thinking be to use the 2 787s from Brisbane to fly to Europe. Perhaps Paris and time the flights to match to qf 1/2

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DKJ96F6U8AAkzKY.jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DKJ962NVwAEivD5.jpg

Pics from the following tweet by AusBT
https://twitter.com/AusBT/status/910428936298827776

Additional photos added.

to twitter feed

No name as yet

ETA

QF7879 touching down at Sydney on Friday October 20 at around 7am. It'll then taxi around past the Qantas lounges at T3 pull into the T3-adjacent Hangar 96 for a special (also invite-only) arrival event which will run through to mid-morning.

First Qantas 787 emerges from the paintshop

Qantas’s first Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner has been rolled out from the paintshop ahead of making its first flight later this week.

The aircraft, which wears the airline’s new colour scheme and the registration VH-ZNA (but no sign of its Australian-inspired name), emerged from the paintshop at Boeing’s Everett facility early Wednesday morning US time.

Qantas says the aircraft took four days to paint using more than 250 litres of paint.
“During the next few days, further tests will be conducted on the aircraft engines, electrical systems and other components before it takes to the skies later this week for Boeing flight certifications,” Qantas said on Thursday morning.

“Qantas pilots will get the opportunity to fly the aircraft on subsequent flights as part of the final acceptance next month.”

VH-ZNA is due to arrive in Sydney at the end of its delivery flight on Friday October 20.

The aircraft, the first of eight on firm order, will first enter service on the Qantas domestic network while the airline gains experience operating the aircraft before it used on Melbourne-Los Angeles flights in December. Nonstop Perth-London flights begin next March.

http://australianaviation.com.au/201...the-paintshop/

What time is the first test flight?

First Flight due on 26 September, USA time.

now changed to 27 September

Does anyone know if the first flight will be live-streamed. I suspect it's only hours away.

Now changed to 28 September USA time

First Flight 2hr3min done. Does not show on Flight Aware yet as ZNA. KPAE-KMWH-KPAE. Look at BOE269


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Qantas’s first 787-9 takes flight

http://australianaviation.com.au/201...-takes-flight/

photos included

I just checked no second test flight yet. 10 October is getting closer???

Well out of the blue, 2 test flights on 5/10. The first one 53 minutes KPAE-KPAE, and the second KPAE/KMWH/KPAE. This was actually 2 flights, 2hr14min, then 20min at KMWH and 43min back to KPAE.

Also ZK-NZL is on its delivery flight KIAH/NZAA as ANZ6094, due in AKL at 19.30 today

The two flights yesterday were B2 & C1 so delivery looks on schedule.

Hi Greg,

Have you heard anything about ZNE-ZNH being in a different configuration?? I vaguely remember reading something somewhere that they would be different??

ANZ's first group of 789's are 302 seats whereas NZL on delivery now has only 275.

Dennis

Sorry Dennis, I can't help with that one

but

VH-ZNA was finally added to the reg on 4/10.

Hi all, there is a good video on youtube of ZNA doing a flight check. The link is as follows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9Xqd3fcCaE

I read in the Australian Aviation mag that ANZ were taking delivery of 3 787-9 in 275 pax configuration , NZL is obviously the first with this seating .

Dave C

There are 5 that will have the increased premium seating cabins, apparently more of a demand for business and PE, not surprising really given most of the NZ flights are long haul.

Here is a video of the first test flight at Everett.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9Xqd3fcCaE