American Airlines takes delivery of its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner

(American Airlines)

American Airlines took delivery Thursday of its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner at Boeing’s Everett, Wash., factory. On Friday, American brings it home to North Texas.

The airplane, N800AN, is scheduled to leave Paine Field at 10 a.m. and arrive at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport at 4:21 p.m.. It’ll be parked at an American hangar there.

“Once the plane arrives, the Tech Ops team at our DWH maintenance base at DFW will begin the acceptance process and prepare the airplane for flight training and other readiness activities, including putting the final touches on the interior and getting it ready for prime time,” American told employees in its weekly “Arrivals” newsletter.

It added that “”we expect the first 787 to enter revenue service in the second quarter, flying domestically between hubs for several weeks before it’s launched on international flights.”

American said the first test flight operated by American’s pilots was performed last week. Flight attendant Joyce Adkins was on the flight.

“We sit in every seat during the flight, and look at everything a customer might touch or use,” she said in “Arrivals.” “Whatever we write up gets fixed. Typically, anything we want fixed after we take delivery, American has to pay for, so this saves a lot of money.”

AA pilot David Hensley, who piloted the first flight, told “Arrivals” that “our pilots are really going to enjoy the airplane. It was very, very quiet. It’s a very comfortable cabin environment, both for our crew and for our passengers.”

According to FlightAware.com, the airplane has flown nearly 7½ hours since it first flew on Jan. 6. Six of its flights involved three round trips Jan. 6, Jan. 11 and Jan. 15 between Paine Field and Moses Lake, Wash. The seventh was a takeoff and landing at Paine Field on Monday after a flight of just under one hour.

American has 42 Boeing 787s on firm order, with options for another 58. The original October 2008 order called for all 42 to be the larger Boeing 787-9 version. However, the order was later modified to covert some into the smaller 787-8 version, and Friday’s arrival is a 787-8.

We hope to greet the flight Friday and will get photos up on the blog as soon as possible.

(Terry Maxon - The Dallas Morning News)