DREAMLINER VISITS AFRICA, SETS SPEED, DISTANCE RECORDS

THE BOEING 787 Dreamliner hit the headlines again recently making its debut in Africa by visiting Addis Ababa and Nairobi, as well as establishing two world records, setting new marks for both speed and distance for the aircraft‘s weight class.

The sixth 787, ZA006, powered by General Electric GEnx engines, departed from Boeing
Field in Seattle at 11h02 on December 6 and set the distance record for its class (440 000- 550 000 lbs.) with a 10 710 nm flight to Dhaka, Bangladesh, with credit for 10 337 nm. This record had previously been held by the Airbus A330 based on a 9 127 nm flight in 2002.

Following an approximately two-hour stop for refuelling in Dhaka, the B787 returned to Seattle on a 9 734 nm flight. It landed at 05h29 on December 8, setting a new record for speed around the world (eastbound) with a total trip time of 42 hours and 27 minutes. There was no previous around-the-world speed record for this weight class.

Flight routing on the first segment of the journey took the airplane from Seattle across the US to Nantucket. After crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the aircraft entered European air space at Santiago, Spain, and proceeded down the
Mediterranean, across Egypt to Luxor, across the Middle East and over India to Bangladesh. On the second segment, the Dreamliner flew over Singapore, the Philippines and Guam before entering US airspace over Honolulu and returning to Seattle. Boeing holds world records for longest distance flights in five weight classes with records set by the KC-135, 767-200ER (extended range), 777-200 and 777-200LR (longer range). The 777-200 also holds the speed record for its weight class.

For its African debut, the Dreamliner visited customer airlines for demonstration flights. First stop was in Addis Ababa where it was shown to Ethiopian Airlines after which it flew to Nairobi where Kenya Airways had a chance to see it “in the flesh”. The photograph above was taken by our Nairobi correspondent, Simon Githae, as the aircraft received a traditional water arch welcome on arrival. The African visit was part of a four-month world demonstration tour by the aircraft.