ANA's Boeing 787

"Boeing 787 launch customer All Nippon Airways plans to quickly ramp up its fleet of the type; it wants to introduce its first 787-8s before the end of March 2011, President and CEO Shinichiro Ito told AviationWeek in an interview.


The airline will take delivery of another 12 aircraft until the end of its fiscal year 2011 (March 2012). Ito says Boeing has given ANA the same information that has been made public—that margins in the flight test program have been eaten up. But ANA still expects to get its first 787 before the end of this year, around two and a half years later than planned." -aviationweek.com

ANA, (All Nippon Airlines) one of the official airlines of Japan are the launch customer for the brand new Boeing 787. The aircraft is behing schedule by about 2.5 years because of faults in the aircraft.   The 787 is a completely redesigned new aircraft that has the latest technological advancements that are currently possible. Airbus, are creating the A350 in response to the 787 in order to stay current and try to compete this this very demanding world. 

"Ito says ANA has no plans to order the 787-10 if Boeing was to offer a further stretch of the aircraft. Soon, ANA’s long-haul fleet will be made up of only two types, the 787 and the 777. The airline plans to retire its remaining three Boeing 747-400s from international service later this year, the type will however be used on domestic routes for several more years. In spite of the current economic recovery, ANA still sees no room for larger models such as the Airbus A380 or the Boeing 747-8 in its fleet any time soon. The airline suspended a decision on a larger aircraft when the global financial crisis broke out." -aviationweek.com

ANA who has been an extremely loyal customer to Boeing has sort of shook the reigns when they announced that there was no interest in the 787-10 or the 747-8 which is a revamped model of the 747-4. ANA reports that they will also be retiting their old 747-4's from service and that there 773ER's will be taking over as their biggest aircraft.

I do not and cannot realisticly see ANA sticking with this decision becuase as the economoy tends to get better and better the airline will definitely need to increase its capacity in order to meet customer needs. I have a feeling that eventually ANA will come to their senses and order a larger aircraft or at least more 773ER's in a high capacity seating chart in order to cope with travel demands.

Quotes are from aviationweek.com