Quote:
Originally Posted by denizen467
I believe the first 787 to be received by United was ordered by then-Continental, and their plan (even well after the merger) was to use it out of the Houston hub to Auckland NZ. Assuming that hasn't changed, a Chicago 787 might not be a domestic-only route. Roughly speaking the 787 is replacing 767-class aircraft, and my impression is that at ORD, 767s tend to go medium-haul to Europe or Hawaii, and not domestically in the lower 48 (though they might also be used medium-haul on coast-to-coast domestic routes). It would make sense to run the Chicago 787 on lucrative routes to 1st-tier European cities or 2nd-tier (or already-served 1st-tier) Asian cities.
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When acquiring a new aircraft type airlines tend to run them on shorter domestic routes between hubs for training and maintenance purposes. New aircraft types do not have the dispatch reliability of mature models. After a few months of that is when traditionally they'd begin using the aircraft on long-haul routes. At least this has been the case with ANA, who have been flying Tokyo-Osaka/Fukuoka/Hiroshima with their 787s and will only this summer (iirc) begin flying Tokyo-Boston and Tokyo-San Diego. Although ANA was the very first customer so perhaps by the time United receives their first 787 this won't be as necessary.
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