Final assembly of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner began today with a ceremony. The Dreamliner has 568 firm orders from 44 airlines, and is the fastest-selling new airplane in aviation history. The first 787 is due to roll off the assembly line on July 8th.
Eos has increased its fleet to four 757-200ER aircraft in preparation for increased frequencies and routes. A fifth will come in December, and negotiations for a sixth are underway. Eos is a business-class only airline.
American Airlines marked the 25th anniversary of its first nonstop U.S. – London flight. May 19th, 1982 was when American Flight 50, a Boeing 747, left Dallas-Fort Worth for London’s Gatwick Airport. American now operates 19 daily flights to London…both Gatwick and Heathrow: six from New York-JFK to Heathrow, five from Chicago to Heathrow, and two from Boston and Los Angeles and one from Miami. It offers two flights from Dallas to Gatwick, and one from Raleigh-Durham to Gatwick.
Airtran has won the two slots at Washington’s Reagan National Airport, offering an additional roundtrip service to Atlanta effective July 10th, bringing its total to five.
Restrictions at Washington’s National Airport may be further relaxed. As Today in the Sky reports, a FAA reauthorization bill was amended by two Western senators to allow up to 20 additional takeoffs and landings a day. At least twelve of these flights would go to Western states…currently restricted by National’s perimeter rule, restricting flights above 1250 miles.
Delta began service to Vienna from its Atlanta hub this evening. Service is operated with Boeing 767-300ER aircraft five times a week.
BA is considering all business-class flights on routes between the United States and Europe. The airline, which has been increasing the number of premium seats…would be competing with business-class only carriers…the idea pioneered by Eos Airlines.
Skybus will make its inaugural flight tomorrow. We look forward to the news coverage and the reviews. We doubt our opinion of them will be changed though. We hope they either change or leave us soon. We wrote our Senator about them. We have yet to receive a response.
