Introducing the British Airways 787 Dreamliner!
British Airways received their first Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner in July 2013 alongside their first Airbus A380-800. The two planes signalled a significant change and move forward as the airline was looking at replacing their aging Boeing 747-400, Boeing 777-200 (non-ER version) & Boeing 767-300 fleets. The Boeing 787-8 mainly replaced the Boeing 767-300 on the long haul services.
G-ZBJA was the first Boeing 787 built for British Airways, but was delivered second behind G-ZBJB.
G-ZBJB was first to arrive due to a technical fault on G-ZBJA, which joined a week later. The airline later added the Boeing 787-9 in 2016 and in 2020 they added their first Boeing 787-10, making them the third airline to operate all three models of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner!
In July 2013 the Boeing 787 was operated on the London Heathrow to Stockholm Arlanda service (BA780/781) replacing the Boeing 767-300 in order to do crew training. Occasionally the airline would feature the Dreamliner on the London-Madrid route alongside the Boeing 767 and Boeing 777s.
Whilst the Boeing 787 is mainly used for long-haul flights, the Boeing 787-8 has seen some usage on European routes on and off.
With the CV-19 Pandemic throwing everything out of the pram for nearly 2 years, BA found themselves using the Boeing 787 on various European routes to meet the supply and demand of Air Freight and as the airline began to bounce back, an opportunity to bring flight crews up to speed on training and re-certifying crews onto a new aircraft type.
During 2020-2022, the BA 787 fleet has seen action in Europe on various routes including: Amsterdam, Zurich, Paris, Madrid and Stockholm. With Amsterdam becoming a semi-regular staple on and off. This came to my attention and very soon I found a solid opportunity to enjoy a three hour stay to Amsterdam from London, just to try out the Boeing 787- some 9 years after BA introduced it!
My flight was operated by G-ZBJH. Let's see how things went!
BA430 (LHR-AMS) on G-ZBHJ
The day started at London Heathrow Terminal 5, for the third trip that month!
Because of my trips unique set up, I went to a check in desk to verify my documents and CV-19 vaccinations- which was all in order and sorted out. So off I went with my boarding pass and confirmations off to security and the airside area of T5.
Clearing security only took about 10 minutes, and I was airside about 45 minutes ahead of my flight's gate being announced. I knew it would go from the B or C Gates, so I decided to wait in T5-A for a Gate confirmation, changes can happen last minute, especially in a big airport like London Heathrow!
It was soon announced on the screens that B-36 would be hosting the Boeing 787 flight of the day, so I went down to the underground monorail to make the short hop over to T5B. I was a little excited as this meant I would also have a short bit of time to see some other wide body aircraft, especially since T5 is now hosting selected Qatar Airways and American Airlines flights alongside the myriad of British Airways and Iberia flights.
Transiting through Terminal 5, I eventually walked up to Gate B-36, which overlooked our Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. The aircraft was G-ZBJH, an aircraft that was delivered in August 2014, shortly after my first ever solo trip, it has flown with BA ever since. The Boeing 787-8 fleet doesn't have a First Class cabin (unlike the 787-9 & 787-10) but has a layout of 35 Club World (Business class), 25 World Traveller Plus (Premium Economy) and 154 World Traveller (Economy) seats.
The B-Gates are often used for wide-body aircraft from British Airways, Iberia, Qatar Airways & American Airlines. Though some BA A320s can be sent here if T5A is busy.
The three main staples of the BA long-haul fleet in the post CV-19 world, the Boeing 777 (left), Boeing 787 (mid) and Airbus A350 (right). The Airbus A380 has come back, but will likely be on borrowed time.
The flight began boarding for an on time scheduled departure, the flight would appear to be very quiet in terms of passengers taking this out bound flight. The Premium Economy cabin wasn't available to sit in, so only a portion of Club World and the whole World Traveller cabins were open for seating and booking.
I passed through the unused World Traveller Plus cabin, and grabbed a quick photo as I wasn't holding anyone up. Whilst I am not a huge fan of the Premium Economy concept, I can see why some people might find it of interest. I personally would only do it if I was given a free upgrade, using my miles and/or money- I would rather go in Business or save and go in normal Economy.
I made the most of my OneWorld Ruby benefits to get a free seat in the forward WT cabin (which was priced at a premium) and grabbed window seat 25A. The front cabin only had about 6 passengers occupying the cabin. I had a solid view of the rear part of the wing on this flight.
The impressive view out of the window at Seat 25A.
The aircraft pushed back, and the crew did a manual safety demonstration, despite the working IFE screens on the Dreamliner that morning. After the demonstration I checked out an episode of "Friday Night Dinner" a popular UK show that ran for 10 years. BA offered an entire series of the show. The plane during this time taxied out to the South Runway for an eastern departure.
After taking off, we made a slight left turn to head North, before adjusting to give us a direct run straight to the Netherlands. The brief left turn allowed for an amazing view of the British Airways maintenance area, as well as part of the village, Sopley, & the Bath Road…
Now this is why I love a window seat!
The flight time was about 40-50 minutes, so the flight didn't cruise at too high an altitude and the crew began the services whilst I tuned into a live concert recording of Jeff Lyne's ELO. ELO (aka. The Electric Light Orchestra) is one of my favourite bands and I enjoy hits including "Sweet Talkin' Woman", "Evil Woman" and "Mr Blue Sky". As I had a whole Row to myself, I used the screen from the middle seat to set up the in-flight map to watch the flight go by.
The basic breakfast service was offered, translating to a strawberry Nutrigrain cereal bar and Harrogate water, but as it was my first time on the Boeing 787, I decided to mark the occasion with a "small extra"… A BA exclusive Brewdog IPA "Jetstream".
As is somewhat of a tradition when I fly on a Boeing 787, I do enjoy playing with the windows dimming feature when possible, this flight was not an exception!!!
Overall it was a really relaxed flight, we started descending into Amsterdam as we came upon the Dutch shorelines. I wrapped up my beer and began to get ready for arrival into Amsterdam. I snapped a final shot of the economy cabin I was in, then set up my GoPro to film the arrival on this amazing early spring morning.
Not often you get to see a really empty Boeing 787 cabin in economy class!
I paid a quick visit to the toilet, which looked really fancy and modern. A few people had been in before me- so it looked a little messy, but not as bad as some that I've visited in the past. Everything worked as it should have, and BA even offered a toilet spray, something I've rarely seen on various airlines.
We arrived on schedule into Amsterdam, only to find we had a prolonged taxi to the Airport Terminal, yes- again! We had been brought in on the Polderbaan…. Though on this occasion, I wasn't prepared to complain too much, it meant a bit more time to enjoy the B787!
Polderbaan again… but for once I'm not mad about it….
We taxied over to the main Terminal complex, and parked up on the D-Stands where all the British Airways and KLM flights to the UK and Ireland park up. It is a non-Schengen area for mainly narrow bodies and some occasional wide-body aircraft. Other airlines that often come here for other non-Schengen short haul flights include: TUI Netherlands, Icelandair, Aeroflot, Aer Lingus and TAROM.
The aircraft parked at the gate right underneath the Panomara Viewing terrace, which offered a great view of the preserved Fokker F100 and Air Traffic Control Tower.
Before leaving I took a chance to get a few photos of the Club World cabin, which had been emptied before my row was called.
The star of the flight- the chance to visit the flight deck for a brief few minutes! I love the fact BA still permits these visits on the ground when possible, its nice to catch up with the flight crew and see the flight deck of an aircraft, especially as I seem to be collecting flight deck photos from all BA aircraft types.
And thus concludes the Flight Report on the British Airways Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. I went off into Amsterdam Schiphol for a three hour "chillout" session before catching my flight back to London- which will one day see a Report in its own right!
