LAN Airlines has inaugurated its Boeing 787 service from Chilean capital Santiago to Auckland in New Zealand.
The 12h 44min flight, which landed on 18 April, was operated with a 787-8 (MSN 38471).
Peter Clark
From Auckland, the aircraft proceeded to Sydney in Australia before flying the 5,580nm, 11h 3min journey back to Santiago.
LAN plans to operate a daily service on its Santiago-Auckland-Sydney route.
In May 2014, the US Federal Aviation Administration certificated the 787 for 330min extended operations (ETOPS) – that duration being the upper limit on flight time from the nearest suitable landing strip.
Prior to assigning the Dreamliner, LAN operated its transpacific services with the Airbus A340-400. Later in 2015, the airline will switch from the 787-8 to the -9 on the route.
MSN 38471 first flew on 6 August 2012 and was delivered to LAN later that month.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
