B787-9 på langtur

B787-9 International debut and to Auckland, NZ

 


All photos by Peter Clark

As dusk fell at Auckland International Airport, the first B787-9 to venture outside the United States touched down in Auckland, New Zealand. Early evening on 4 January 2014, the lights appeared in the Eastern sky and ZB002 arrived to visit launch customer Air New Zealand. The aircraft completed the Seattle, Boeing Field to Auckland flight in 13 hours 49 minutes with 79 POB, and was the longest flight to date for a B787-9. This trip which was contingent on weather and other test factors marked the international debut of the B787-9, the second and newest member of the B787 family. 


Boeing said they were proud to bring the B787-9 to Auckland to show Air New Zealand what the team has achieved. With more than 150 flights since testing began in September, the test fleet is said to be continuing to perform very well. Boeing said, we look forward to delivering the first B787-9 in mid-2014 as promised. Air New Zealand said they are expecting ZK-NZB to arrive in July and to be in full service in early October.

Air New Zealand said, having one of Air New Zealand's B787-9s touching down on Kiwi soil for the first time is hugely exciting. The two Trent powered B787-9 test aircraft will be reconfigured back on the production line in 2015 and will be delivered as aircraft four and five to Air New Zealand, late 2015.
The aircraft in Auckland, ZB002, is the second of three B787-9s dedicated to the test program. As the only B787-9 test aircraft to be fitted with elements of the passenger interior, in addition to test racks and instrumentation, Boeing is using ZB002 to test the environmental control system and other aspects of aircraft performance.


From Auckland, ZB002 was scheduled to continue on to Alice Springs, Australia, where Boeing is to conduct flight testing in hot weather. Boeing chose Alice Springs Airport for this testing because the location meets specific test requirements for both facilities and atmospheric conditions. Testing is contingent on favorable weather and is scheduled to last approximately one week. Boeing said they need temperatures above 38 degrees C to test operating systems with a high temperature load. During the aircraft stay in Alice Springs Boeing will also complete autoland testing during the aircrafts down time.