A jet to help Boston's dreams take off
New Boeing 787 will make nonstop flights to Asia feasible
Peter J. Howe, Boston Globe, 9/14/2007 (excerpted)
When Boeing Co.'s new 787 Dreamliner jet takes to the skies sometime this winter, it will represent an envelope-pushing engineering triumph for everything from fuel efficiency to advanced composite materials.
It also will represent Boston's first hope in years for getting regular nonstop service to China, India, and East Asia. By dint of its size and range - and its ability to take off from Logan International Airport's biggest runways with a full load of fuel - the 787 is expected to be the first jet that airlines can profitably fly nonstop between Boston and major Asian cities.
The 787 "opens up a whole new continent for us," says Edward C. Freni, aviation director for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan.
Massport officials are especially optimistic about six cities: Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai in China, Mumbai and New Delhi in India, and Tokyo in Japan.
Not coincidentally, some of the first airlines to order 787s are major Chinese, Indian, and Japanese airlines, including All Nippon Airlines, Air India, and Hainan Airlines. "We're actively engaged in talks with a number of airlines," but it could be several months to a year before anything is final, said Freni, who would not identify which airlines Logan officials have met with.
Some who regularly make the 6,000-mile trip to China love the idea of being able to fly nonstop from Boston.
"It would be so great," said Rose Lee Askin, a Citizens Bank executive who serves as its liaison to Bank of China, with which Citizens set up a high-tech money-transfer service that can send business people and consumers a confirmation message on their wireless phone when a transfer has gone through.
Because "in Asia, when you do business, it's always face to face," Askin travels to China once every three months, on average, typically connecting on United Airlines through O'Hare International Airport in Chicago or Dulles International Airport near Washington, D.C., which adds extra hours and headaches to the trip.
Askin's worst horror story: making the 12-hour flight back from China on Continental Airlines to its hub at chronically congested Newark Liberty International Airport, only to have her Newark-Boston flight delayed six hours.
Askin said easier access to Beijing, Hong Kong, or Shanghai would encourage her clients, including corporate chief executives, to make crucial visits to China. "CEOs might travel more often" and close more deals, and Boston would see more student traffic to and from China, Askin said.
Hassan M. Ahmed, chief executive of Sonus Networks Inc., a Chelmsford telecommunications equipment maker that has several customers in East Asia, travels there every quarter, usually in coach class on United.
"When traveling to Asia, I leave Monday morning via Logan through Chicago, land on Wednesday, and take the Friday flight home. The transfer in Chicago adds precious time to the trip," Ahmed said.
"I could be in Asia four hours earlier with a direct flight, which means additional meetings Wednesday and easily arriving home in time to watch the Friday night baseball game with my boys."
Boston, which the Transportation Department ranks as the sixth-largest domestic air market, is the largest market without any regularly scheduled nonstop service to Asia.
The only regularly scheduled nonstop commercial flights Logan has ever had to Asia, according to Massport, were thrice-weekly flights on Korean Air from Seoul, from August 1996 to July 2001.
Because of weight restrictions and the fact Logan's longest runway is just over 10,000 feet - 1,000 to 3,000 feet too short for a wide-body jet to take off fully loaded with people, cargo, and fuel - the Korean 747-400 had to leave Logan with empty seats. It made a stop at Dulles to pick up more passengers before returning to Seoul, which reduced the service's appeal for many Boston-based travelers.
Even with Korea-bound traffic from two markets, the service was a chronic money-loser.
A smaller Boeing 777 - typically around 270 seats - would still have to leave about one-third empty to make it nonstop from Boston to East Asia, Massport officials said. But a 787 will be able to leave with all 210 to 250 seats full, generating at likely fare levels a 25 percent profit margin for the airline, Freni said. "It can be profitable in and out of here."
Thanks to lightweight materials like carbon laminates in the fuselage, a 787-800 uses about 20 percent less fuel than any similar-size plane.
Depending on takeoff weight, the Dreamliner can fly 7,650 to 8,200 nautical miles, although airlines typically won't schedule a flight longer than 85 to 90 percent of the rated range, to keep a safety cushion.
That puts several cities in East Asia within reach of Boston on a 787 - Tokyo is 5,823 nautical miles away, Mumbai 6,621, and Hong Kong 6,926, according to the Great Circle Mapper online service - as well as Buenos Aires, 4,666 miles, and Johannesburg, 6,828.