All Nippon Airways (ANA) will commence regular service with its Boeing 787 on 1 November, with daily services between Tokyo's Haneda airport and the cities of Okayama and Hiroshima.

And the carrier will begin international operations with the twinjet from December on the Haneda-Beijing route, it said. The aircraft will likely operate once a week on this route.

In January 2012, the 787 will be used on a three-times-weekly service on a new route for ANA, between Haneda and Frankfurt.

The world's first passenger flight of the new aircraft will be a special charter flight between Tokyo Narita and Hong Kong on 26 and 27 October.

ANA plans to use the 787 on routes connecting Haneda with Itami, Yamaguchi-Ube and Matsuyama by the end of this fiscal year.

Before April 2012, ANA hopes to operate the 787 on the Haneda-Itami, Haneda-Yamaguchi-Ube and Haneda-Matsuyama routes.

ANA's first 787s are configured with 264 seats for regional and domestic operations. The carrier will later receive 787s regionally configured with 222 seats.

Of its order for 55 787s, ANA plans to receive JA801A in September with an additional 11 before 31 March 2012 and a further eight before 31 March 2013.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news