After waiting seven years, Air Canada executives will finally head to Seattle this weekend to pick up a Boeing 787 plane, the first of 37 Dreamliners on order.

“We’re extremely excited. It’s going to be a big winner for us,” said Ben Smith, Air Canada’s chief commercial officer, in an interview.

The jet is expected to land on Sunday at Toronto’s Pearson airport. On board will be CEO Calin Rovinescu along with 100 employees including 50 who won a contest for a seat on the inaugural flight.

“When you’re in this industry, it doesn’t happen very often,” said Smith, of the chance to bring back a brand-spanking new plane. “Last time, I got to do that was in 2007, when we took our first Boeing 777.”

For Air Canada, the Dreamliner is critical to the airline’s international expansion plans. Made of composite materials, the plane has a much longer range, but burns 20 per cent less fuel, making it more cost-effective, given fuel is the biggest expense for any airline.

The Dreamliner’s 251 seats are also seen as advantageous on routes where it may be harder to fill 300 to 450 seats on a Boeing 777.

“This airplane on its own is a fantastic airplane,” said Smith. “But what’s so special and so unique for Air Canada is the airplane perfectly sized, as if it was custom made for us.

“You don’t get to custom make an airplane, but every once in a while an airplane is built so perfectly for your marketplace that you get an extra special edge,” he said.

The 787 will offer three cabin classes – business, premium economy and economy.

In the coming weeks, passengers flying on domestic routes as well on flights to London and Zurich may find themselves on the newest 787, as the airline tests out the plane.

When it goes into official service on July 1, it will be used on a new Toronto to Tokyo-Haneda route, an airport that is closer to the downtown core than Tokyo’s Narita airport. It will also be used on the Toronto-Tel Aviv route.

Air Canada will have three 787s by July, six by year’s end. Then, the airline will get seven to nine planes a year, going forward, until it has its full fleet of 37.

“It fits well with the types of routes we want to go into, plus our existing routes,” Smith said. “We’ll be flying this plane, across the Atlantic, across the Pacific, down to South America.”

Boeing encountered problems during the production of the 787s, with initial deliveries delayed more than three years. Last year, the aircraft suffered a series of glitches related to overheating of lithium ion batteries, forcing a three-month worldwide shutdown of 787 operations.

The delays may have actually worked to Air Canada’s advantage, avoiding big capital expenditures in the years following the 2008-09 financial crisis.

The carrier has gone through significant cost-cutting efforts including revamping labour contracts and the launch of the leisure carrier Rouge, where older planes like the Boeing 767 will be used.

A multi-billion-dollar pension shortfall has also been wiped out, and the airline is now in a better position to spend.

Bloomberg Industries analyst George Ferguson says part of the “dream” is the airplane replaces the size of 767, but has a longer range.

“For a country like Canada, and an airline like Air Canada, I think it’s a great product to have in the palette,” he said, adding the airline can fly to destinations farther away, but given the number of seats, it wouldn’t be as hard to fill.

And because Canada isn’t a densely populated market, the 787 is ideal for the marketplace.

“Air Canada doesn’t want to have so many tickets to sell, that they have to dilute pricing to open up the market,” Ferguson said. “If you’re opening a market with a Boeing 777, you have to sell 300 tickets or more. In some markets, that can make a difference.”

As part of its international expansion plans, Air Canada is aiming to draw more U.S. travellers, especially those on business, to fly through Toronto or Vancouver, on to cities in Europe, Asia and South America.

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Air Canada believes there is a market to be tapped, especially in smaller cities in the U.S. Northeast or Midwest, where a traveller might choose to transfer in Toronto instead of New York or Chicago.

With the Dreamliner, Air Canada will be able to offer direct flights to secondary markets such as smaller cities in China instead of just Beijing or Shanghai.

However, Ferguson, a senior aerospace and airlines analyst, isn’t convinced that U.S. passengers would choose Air Canada, in part because of higher costs, fees and taxes in Canada.

“There may be a niche to pull people out of Cleveland, which is being de-hubbed by United Airlines,” he said, but argued that higher population density in the U.S. means fares are lower there.

“It’s going to be hard,” he said. “But anything can happen. If they want to cut fares, people will go anywhere for a cheaper fare,” Ferguson said.

“But they’re price-sensitive. If you go after them, you’d better be ready to discount to get them,” he said. “I think the 787 business looks more like a long-haul, direct flight machine. It’s not too big. You can fill it in one place and empty it at the destination.”

McGill University business professor Karl Moore believes the Dreamliner gives Air Canada a competitive edge against Canadian rivals.

WestJet is looking to expand into international markets, with a possible wide-body fleet eventually. It is beginning service to Dublin next month, but because it is using Boeing 737 planes, flights from Toronto require a stop in St. John’s.

Porter Airlines also wants to get into longer-haul flights with its conditional order for Bombardier’s CSeries jets that could reach cities like Los Angeles and Miami from the island airport.

However, a decision on whether jets should be permitted by Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is on hold until after the October municipal election.

“Both WestJet and Porter are trying to chip away at Air Canada’s advantages,” said Moore, but the Dreamliner opens up new possibilities for Air Canada.

“The economics are very good for this plane,” he said. “It uses less fuel, and it can fly longer distances.”

Because it’s made of composite materials, there is less worry about rust or metal fatigue, so humidity levels can be increased, easing airplane dryness for passenger comfort.

“It’s more of a pleasure to fly on,” said Moore, who has flown the Dreamliner between Warsaw and Toronto on Poland’s LOT Airlines. “If I can fly on it, I will.”

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