Boeing's first Dreamliner 787-10 jets are coming to Seattle soon

Boeing's biggest and newest Dreamliner is scheduled to fly to Seattle later this month after completing the first test flight in South Carolina.

The new 787-10 plane, which is made only in Charleston, South Carolina, is 18 feet longer and offers 40 more seats than the Dreamliner 787-9 model that's made in Everett.

Two Boeing test pilots from the Puget Sound area, Capts. Tim Berg and Mike Bryan, flew the 787-10 on its first test flight last Friday. They put the airplane through 50 pages of tests involving flight controls, systems and handling qualities during the four-hour flight.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes has heavy work ahead of it in the Puget Sound region over the next year to get the fuel-efficient, long-haul aircraft certified.

First up is comprehensive flight testing at Boeing Field to earn Federal Aviation Administration certification before airline customer deliveries begin in the first half of 2018.

Three 787-10s will arrive for testing over the next few months. There is no exact date for when the first test airplane will arrive in Seattle, Boeing spokesman Doug Alder said, but company officials think it will likely arrive later this month.

The 787-10’s first flight moved Boeing one step closer to giving customers what Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Kevin McAllister said is "the most efficient airplane in its class."

The stretched-out Dreamliner already has 149 orders from nine customers across the globe, Boeing said.

The 787-10's launch customer will be Singapore Airlines.

Other airline buyers include North American launch customer United Airlines, Air Lease Corporation (ALC), All Nippon Airways (ANA), British Airways, Etihad Airways, EVA Air, GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS) and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

(Andrew McIntosh - Puget Sound Business Journal)