American Airlines has delivered a small gift to fans of Boeing’s advanced jet, the 787 Dreamliner.
The airline announced routes Wednesday for the first 787s to join American’s fleet.
“Nice to have another U.S. airline with a 787, finally,” aviation enthusiast and frequent flier Jason Rabinowitz tweeted to CNN. Since 2012, United has been the only U.S. airline to operate the sleek, super-efficient Dreamliners. “It’s always nice to see a new type enter a fleet.”
American announced a domestic Dreamliner route from Dallas-Fort Worth to Chicago O’Hare beginning May 7. Starting in June, passengers can fly American Airlines Dreamliners from Dallas-Forth Worth to Beijing and to Buenos Aires.
Appropriately for Dreaminer lovers, booking is expected to begin on Valentine’s Day.
The buzz began building last month, when 787 fans rejoiced at the delivery of American’s first Dreamliner from Boeing’s factory in Everett, Washington.
The Dreamliner has been keeping a low profile since battery problems prompted aviation authorities to briefly ground it worldwide in 2013. Despite the release of the sleek, new 787-8 and its longer version, the 787-9 the Dreamliner has been at least temporarily overshadowed by a newer rival: the Airbus A350.
American Airlines boasts that the new planes will be outfitted with custom-designed, forward-and rear-facing seats.
“Adding the 787 Dreamliner to our network gives us the opportunity to increase our efficiency on long-haul flights across the globe and potentially open up new markets in our network,” said American’s Andrew Nocella.
American also plans to trick out its 787 cabins with nearly 198 main cabin seats in a 3-3-3 configuration, and 48 of those with 6 inches of extra legroom. International long-haul Dreamliners will include Wi-Fi and seats that can lie completely flat.
Dreamliners also offer snazzy features like color-changing interior mood lighting, improved cabin humidity and larger windows that darken and lighten with the push of a button. Aviation geeks love to talk about the 787’s advanced technology, like fly-by-wire cockpit controls and dramatically sweeping wings with raked wingtips.
American says it has firm orders for 42 Dreamliners, with options to purchase 58 more. It says it “will deploy the 787 to additional markets in 2015 as it takes delivery of new aircraft.” American’s orders reportedly include 26 of the longer version of the Dreamliner, the 787-9.