Dreamliner landing with Jetstar in 2013
Jetstar has announced that it will be replacing its A330 fleet with Boeing's 787 Dreamliner in 2013.
Boeing's 787 Dreamliner.
(Credit: Boeing)
According to David Hall, Jetstar Australia and New Zealand CEO, Jetstar will be the first carrier of the Qantas Group to take delivery of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
"We're busily exploring new opportunities to which to deploy the in-flight entertainment affordably, accessibly and great innovation on-board the Dreamliner that we will launch in 2013," he said.
The 787 Dreamliner will replace Jetstar's A330s, which are currently being used to operate its international fleet, and will be returned to Qantas.
Boeing has said that the 787 Dreamliner offers airline customers up to 20 per cent fuel savings over other passenger jets, which is largely due to half of its primary structure, including its fuselage and wings, being made from composite materials. The Dreamliner also incorporates the latest aviation technologies, including an on-board health-monitoring system, which lets the aircraft monitor itself and automatically send in maintenance reports to ground-based computer systems.
"[The Dreamliner] is a good product for us; the configuration they've got, it's an ideal aircraft configuration and efficiency for our leisure network," said Hall.
Jetstar is currently working on the plane's configuration and the in-flight entertainment technology. Hall has confirmed that the aircraft will have 330-plus seats, and it'll have a two-class configuration: business and economy. There will be no bidet, like on ANA's Dreamliner; "it'll be a nice, simple, appropriate product", said Hall.
It is currently unknown whether the iPad will be available on the new aircraft, but Hall told ZDNet Australia that Jetstar is looking into efficient and affordable opportunities to provide in-flight entertainment with leading-edge technologies.
"No final decision on it yet, but we're exploring all sorts of options. [The iPad] will certainly suit the leisure market," said Hall.
Stellar Group's in-flight chief operating officer, Michael Reilly, one of Jetstar's key iPad integration partners, told ZDNet Australia that he fully expects the devices to extend to the Dreamliner.
Japan's All Nippon Airways was the first customer to take delivery of the Dreamliner in late September.