Phoenix 1:400 Boeing 787-8: Air Austral Airlines

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American long-haul, mid-size wide-body, twin-engine jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Its variants seat 242 to 330 passengers in typical two-class seating configurations. It is the first airliner with an airframe constructed primarily of composite materials. The 787 was designed to be 20% more fuel-efficient than the Boeing 767, which it was intended to replace. The 787 Dreamliner's distinguishing features include mostly electrical flight systems, raked wingtips, and noise-reducing chevrons on its engine nacelles.

The aircraft's initial designation was the 7E7, prior to its renaming in January 2005. The first 787 was unveiled in a roll-out ceremony on July 8, 2007, at Boeing's Everett factory. Development and production of the 787 has involved a large-scale collaboration with numerous suppliers worldwide. Final assembly takes place at the Boeing Everett Factory in Everett, Washington, and at the Boeing South Carolina factory in North Charleston, South Carolina. Originally planned to enter service in May 2008, the project experienced multiple delays. The airliner's maiden flight took place on December 15, 2009, and flight testing was completed in mid-2011. Boeing has reportedly spent $32 billion on the 787 program.

Final US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) type certification was received in August 2011 and the first 787-8 was delivered in September 2011. It entered commercial service on October 26, 2011, with launch customer All Nippon Airways. The stretched 787-9 variant, which is 20 feet (6.1 m) longer and can fly 450 nautical miles (830 km) farther than the -8, first flew in September 2013. Deliveries of the 787-9 began in July 2014; it entered commercial service on August 7, 2014, with All Nippon Airways, with 787-9 launch customer Air New Zealand following two days later. As of October 2019, the 787 had orders for 1,455 aircraft from 72 identified customers.

The aircraft has suffered from several in-service problems related to its lithium-ion batteries, including fires on board during commercial service. These systems were reviewed by both the FAA and the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau. The FAA issued a directive in January 2013 that grounded all 787s in the US and other civil aviation authorities followed suit. After Boeing completed tests on a revised battery design, the FAA approved the revised design and lifted the grounding in April 2013; the 787 returned to passenger service later that month.

In December 2019, it was revealed that Boeing removed copper foil that formed part of the protection against lightning strikes from the wings of the aircraft, and then worked with the FAA to override concerns raised.

On December 15, 2009, Boeing conducted the 787-8 maiden flight from Paine Field in Everett, Washington, at 10:27 am PST and landed three hours later at 1:33 p.m. at Seattle's Boeing Field, after reaching 180 kn (333 km/h) and 13,200 ft (4,000 m). Originally scheduled for 5 1/2 hours, the test flight was shortened to three hours with the pilots wanting to complete the flight under visual meteorological conditions while visibility and cloud ceiling were low. The 6,800h, six-aircraft ground and flight test programme was scheduled in eight and a half months, the fastest certification campaign for a new Boeing commercial design.

The flight test program comprised six aircraft, ZA001 through ZA006, four with Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines and two with GE GEnx-1B64 engines. The second 787, ZA002 in All Nippon Airways livery, flew to Boeing Field on December 22, 2009, to join the flight test program; the third 787, ZA004 made its first flight on February 24, 2010, followed by ZA003 on March 14, 2010. On March 24, 2010, flutter and ground effects testing was completed, clearing the aircraft to fly its entire flight envelope. On March 28, 2010, the 787 completed the ultimate wing load test, which requires that the wings of a fully assembled aircraft be loaded to 150% of design limit load and held for 3 seconds. The wings were flexed approximately 25 ft (7.6 m) upward during the test. Unlike past aircraft, the wings were not tested to failure. On April 7, data showed the test had been a success.

Air Austral is an airline based at the Roland Garros Airport in the French overseas department of Réunion in the Indian Ocean. It operates scheduled services from Réunion to metropolitan France, South Africa, Thailand, India and a number of destinations in the Indian Ocean. The company has eight airplanes in the fleet and employs around 900 people.