Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority has given approval to Jetstar Airways to commence operations with its first Boeing 787-8.
CASA says the approval comes after months of detailed work by the authority and the airline, including a review of the safety issues related to the introduction of the new type.
“It is not often we introduce new large aircraft types into Australian aviation so it takes a lot of work by the airline and by CASA,” says CASA director of aviation safety John McCormick.
Jetstar has scheduled its first revenue services with the new type for November 13, when it will commence flights from Melbourne to Cairns and the Gold Coast to allow crew to gain experience on the type. It will operate its first international services, from Melbourne to Denpasar on 18 December.
The aircraft is configured with 335 seats, comprising 21 business class and 314 economy class seats.
Jetstar plans to have three 787s in its fleet by the end of 2013, and will take delivery of 14 by the end of 2015. The aircraft will replace its fleet of Airbus A330-200s, which are being handed back to Qantas Airways, and in turn will allow that carrier to retire its remaining 767-300s.
Flightglobal’s Ascend Online Fleets database shows that Jetstar has a fleet of 72 aircraft in service.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
