SEATTLE, Dec. 15, 2009 – The Boeing (NYSE: BA) 787 Dreamliner took to the sky for the first time today, ushering a new era in air travel as it departed before an estimated crowd of more than 12,000 employees and guests at Paine Field in Everett, Wash.
The newest member of the Boeing family of commercial jetliners, shown here in flight with a T-33 chase airplane in the background, flew for approximately three hours, landing at 1:33 p.m. local time.
The flight marks the beginning of a flight-test program that will see six 787s flying nearly around the clock and around the globe, with the airplane's first delivery scheduled for fourth-quarter 2010.