BA reveals Boeing 787 launch routes: Toronto, New York/Newark
By David Flynn, June 28 2013
British Airways has chosen Toronto and Newark as launch routes for its first Boeing 787 services as the airline revs up its marketing machine ahead of the Dreamliner's official debut next week.
BA's London-Toronto Boeing 787 service will begin on September 1, with London-Newark following on October 1. BA says the Boeing 787 "will also be doing shorthaul flying to Stockholm" sometime after October 1.
The Dreamliner service will make its international inaugural on the daily BA93/92 service between London and Toronto, while the daily London-Newark BA187/186 flight will score the 787.
Travellers can book special launch fares on ba.com, with £787 (A$1300) return in World Traveller Plus premium economy from London to Toronto and Newark. Another £787 return will get you an upgrade to Club World business class.
The Dreamliners will also be rostered onto selected and as-yet-unannounced domestic and European routes prior to starting international flights.
Also released today was this 787 teaser including a few fleeting glimpses inside BA's Dreamliner.
The seating plan shows room for 214 passengers divided into the predictable mix of business, premium economy and economy – BA has joined other Boeing 787 airlines in dropping the first class cabin from the next-gen jetliner in order to focus on a cost-effective three-class layout.
Read: Boeing 787 customers drop first class
35 Club World business class seats sit at the pointy end in a new 'triple' configuration of 2-3-2.
That's followed by 25 World Traveller Plus premium economy seats laid out 2-3-2; and 154 World Traveller economy seats split 3-3-3.
Read: BA's Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 seatmaps
BA's 'Big Bang' launch
British Airways will take delivery of its first Boeing 787 in London today, with another expected to follow early next week, ahead of a worldwide media launch for both its Boeing 787 and Airbus A380 at London’s Heathrow Airport on Thursday July 4.
The Boeing 787 and Airbus A380 are part of a ten-year A$8.2 billion upgrade to BA's long-distance fleet, which will include retiring the older and less fuel-efficient Boeing 747-400 jumbos.
"The 787 will become a mainstay of the British Airways fleet over the next few years" promises Willie Walsh, chief executive of BA parent IAG.
"This is the first of 24 that will arrive by 2017, and we have announced plans to convert further options for the aircraft into firm orders for delivery from 2017, including for the new larger 787-10 version."
Over the next 12 months, BA expects to take delivery of one new long-range aircraft every two weeks, including its 12 Airbus A380s and six additional Boeing 777-300ERs.
The Airbus A380 will begin from London to Los Angeles from October 15 and Hong Kong from November 15, and like the 787 will fly several routes closer to home in the lead-up to LAX.
Also read: Qatar's Airbus A380 heading to London, Paris in early 2014
Australian Business Traveller will be attending BA's Airbus A380 and Boeing 787 launch event in London as a guest of British Airways.
Follow Australian Business Traveller on Twitter: we're @AusBT
David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
21 Apr 2012
Total posts 3006
Dear David,
Did BA advise which YYZ flight will be operated by the 787? I've checked the BA schedules in July and December 2013 and it appears that they are still operating 767,777 and 747 on that sector.
Is the launch of the 787 on the YYZ sector only going to occur in 2014 or has BA not updated its online schedules?
24 Oct 2010
Total posts 2563
TRB: we don't have any further information than what's in this article - that includes the specific flights and launch dates. Tickets will go onsale overnight so I'd expect the schedules (or at least the GDS booking system) to be updates at that stage. Trust me, we include as much info in articles as we can.
21 Apr 2012
Total posts 3006
Thanks David,
I was just enquiring to see if it's possible to use this new service to connect to the CX's YYZ/HKG flight.
As always, I appreciate these articles and the effort you have put into them.
14 Jun 2013
Total posts 352
Of those three flights I expect BA will swap out the 767 for the 787.
The 777 and 747 hold more passengers than the 787 and also they have first class cabins, which the 787 lacks, so BA could be looking at losing passengers and yield if they swapped either for the 787.
The 767 on the other hand has close to the name number of seats as the 787, in fact it has a few less, and also is an older aircraft that uses quite a bit of fuel.
So BA would likely pull out the 767 in favour of the 787.
24 Oct 2010
Total posts 2563
BA's first 787 first flights have now been listed above – see https://airlineroute.net/2013/06/27/ba-787380-update1 for the full set fresh from the GDS!
10 Aug 2013
Total posts 1
Why, why did they choose Toronto for their first 787 flights!!
Now I have to fly from Heathrow back to Toronto in September and only very inconvenient connection flights with long connection times left for 747 !
They gave the best connection time to this 787! I am not going to fly on this type of plane over the Atlantic so far, so I am in desperation.
I hate it.
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