Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner makes India debut today

The Delhi airport will be the first in India where the much-hyped Boeing 787 ‘Dreamliner’ is going to land at 10.30am today.

The Delhi airport will be the first in India where the much-hyped Boeing 787 ‘Dreamliner’ is going to land at 10.30am today.

HT Image

The Boeing 787 will arrive in Delhi from Japan and remain at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) for two days, before leaving for Mumbai on July 15.

The private airport operator Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) would welcome the aircraft with a water cannon salute. The aircraft, which would only have its crew and some officials, would not be ‘docked’ at Terminal 3 but parked at a remote parking bay.

“The aircraft would take-off and land after some time, in a go-around, as of now,” an airport source said.

Unlike super jumbo European Airbus A380, the Seattle, USA-based Boeing 787’s claim to fame is not its sheer size — A380 can seat 550 passengers, compared to 787’s 250 seats — but its super-efficiency.

The Boeing 787 is expected to be 20% more fuel-efficient than other aircraft its size. The range of the aircraft is between 8,000 and 8,500 nautical miles, almost similar to the A380.

While aircraft are usually made of aluminum, almost 50% of the Dreamliner’s primary structure — including its fuselage and wings — is made of composite materials.

Worldwide, Boeing has sold 857 of these jumbos. In India, Air India has placed orders for 27 of these planes, besides 10 being ordered by Jet Airways.