United to Fly Boeing 787s From Newark to Europe Next Summer
While we're a little misty-eyed from the winding down of this year's summer seasonal routes, United's giving us reason to smile as we look forward to summer 2019. FlightGlobal reports that the carrier will utilize Boeing 787 aircraft on "six international Atlantic routes" from its hub in Newark, beginning March 31, 2019. Those Dreamliners will be staffed with "160 pilots, including 55 captains and 105 first officers," based in Newark.
What's not yet clear, however, is what variant of 787 will be used. United does have a number of 787-10s on order — the stretched-out version that we saw evacuate Charleston ahead of Hurricane Florence — so it's not out of the realm of feasibility that we'd see those slotted in here. The airline had scheduled for its first 787-10 deliveries to enter the fleet later this year, though it also has existing orders for the 787-9. United's 787-10 will be the first Dreamliner to offer a modified version of the airline’s new Polaris business-class seat, which may eventually make its way to United’s smaller 787-8s and -9s.
In March, Singapore Airlines took delivery of the first-ever 787-10 Dreamliner from Boeing. It has a total of 49 ordered. Other carriers that have placed orders for the -10 include Etihad (30), British Airways (12) and Air France-KLM (8), among others.
For more on Boeing’s Dreamliner variants, see By the Numbers: Boeing 787-8 vs. 787-9 vs. 787-10.
