Air New Zealand’s new 787-9 takes flight

Air New Zealand’s new 787-9 takes flight

Air New Zealand’s first Boeing 787-9 has taken to the air for the first time today, successfully completing its first production test flight in the skies above Seattle, Washington.

The aircraft, which is in Air New Zealand’s signature black livery and has the tail registration ZK-NZE, is currently in the final phases of the delivery process before being formally handed over to the airline as the new owner.

Air New Zealand is the launch customer for the Boeing 787-9 and has 10 of these stretch versions of the 787 on order.

This first test flight is known as a B1 flight where the two pilots put the aircraft through its paces thoroughly exercising its systems to verify performance while at the same time the functionality of every aspect of the cabin is tested in-flight.

The distinctive black aircraft departed from Paine Field airport north of Seattle at 1.45pm local time. It reached an altitude of 11,800 meters (39,000 feet) and an airspeed of 360 knots which is standard for a B1 flight and returned to Paine Field three hours and ten minutes later.

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