Boeing has delivered the 500th Dreamliner, a 787-8 handed over to Avianca in the week before Christmas.
According to Boeing, the 787 has reached the 500 mark faster than any other twin-aisle transport. The first 787 was delivered to All Nippon Airways in September 2011.
The latest delivery caps a record year for Boeing, which reportedly handed over 137 787s during the year, slightly more than in 2015. That is almost twice as many as the 70 orders booked last year and is in line with the trend of the past three years, during which deliveries have far outstripped new orders (386 deliveries vs 221 orders). The order backlog for the 787 stood at 721 at the end of November.
The end of the year was marked by Delta’s cancellation of an order for 18 787s that the airline inherited when it merged with Northwest Airlines in 2008.
The 787 is currently in service with 48 operators, who have collectively flown 696,000 revenue flights, carrying 133 million passengers over 1.7 billion revenue miles.