Glitch delays ANA Boeing 787 Seattle-Tokyo route
SEATAC, Wash. (AP) - The inaugural All Nippon Airways 787 flight from Sea-Tac Airport to Tokyo has been delayed 24 hours by a mechanical glitch.
The Boeing 787 had been scheduled to take off early Monday afternoon, but officials said a faulty part in the airplane's cooling system needed to be replaced.
Airline spokeswoman Jean Saito said a part would be taken from another 787 aircraft.
The plane had landed Monday morning and fire trucks sprayed rainbows of water to greet the first ANA 787 to land in commercial service at Sea-Tac. The jet took its passengers to a terminal gate and prepared for its afternoon departure back to Tokyo before the delay was announced in the late afternoon.
A number of airline, Boeing and Port of Seattle officials had been on hand to celebrate daily service with the 787 on the Seattle-Tokyo route event.
The rescheduled Seattle-Tokyo flight was to depart at 1:15 p.m. Tuesday.
ANA was Boeing's launch customer for the new fuel-efficient widebody twinjet. The airline started the Seattle-Tokyo route in July, using a Boeing 777.
The Boeing 787 had been scheduled to take off early Monday afternoon, but officials said a faulty part in the airplane's cooling system needed to be replaced.
Airline spokeswoman Jean Saito said a part would be taken from another 787 aircraft.
The plane had landed Monday morning and fire trucks sprayed rainbows of water to greet the first ANA 787 to land in commercial service at Sea-Tac. The jet took its passengers to a terminal gate and prepared for its afternoon departure back to Tokyo before the delay was announced in the late afternoon.
A number of airline, Boeing and Port of Seattle officials had been on hand to celebrate daily service with the 787 on the Seattle-Tokyo route event.
The rescheduled Seattle-Tokyo flight was to depart at 1:15 p.m. Tuesday.
ANA was Boeing's launch customer for the new fuel-efficient widebody twinjet. The airline started the Seattle-Tokyo route in July, using a Boeing 777.
I can't wait for my next trip to Japan. Normally take Delta to Osaka but I think I'll change that up a bit and try ANA's 787 business class. Be nice to fly on one.
*FACE PALM*
It's only been in service a few weeks. This is a good reason to break them in on short hops rather than trans-pacific flights, but you roll the dice and hope it goes well. I think the same thing happened on or around their Tokyo-Frankfurt inaugural. Regardless, it's just teething issues and it will all be fine. I'm guessing they chose to delay a full 24 hrs as perhaps the crew would have timed out and the two flights had light enough loads that they could be combined. Also, Star Alliance partner United also flies the route and could add some capacity.
Maybe it was homesick and wanted to hang around a while.
Pretty embarrasing. A 787 arrives in Seattle for a round trip back to Japan only to break down right in it's birthplace. Heavy sigh!
 @HonkeyCat That jet was built in Everett, but close enough.