During Tuesday's flight, 787-9 Senior Project Pilot Mike Bryan and 787 Chief Pilot Randy Neville departed to the north, reaching an altitude of 20,400 feet and an airspeed of 288 miles per hour, customary for a first flight. While Capts. Bryan and Neville tested the airplane's systems and structures, onboard equipment transmitted real-time data to a flight-test team on the ground in Seattle. "We accomplished a lot in this flight, and it went really well," said Bryan. "The 787-9 is a great jet and we wanted to just keep on flying." 

Powered by two Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines, the first 787-9 will be joined in flight test by two additional airplanes, one of which will feature General Electric GEnx engines. Those airplanes are in the final stages of assembly in Boeing's Everett factory. Over the coming months, the fleet will be subjected to a variety of tests and conditions to demonstrate the safety and reliability of the airplane's design. 

The 787-9 will complement and extend the 787 family, (Variants 787-8, 787-9 and the 787-10). The 787-9 will offer airlines the ability to grow routes first opened with the 787-8. With the fuselage stretched by 20 feet over the 787-8, the 787-9 will carry 40 more passengers an additional 300 nautical miles, with the same exceptional environmental performance 20 percent less fuel use and 20 percent fewer emissions than similarly sized airplanes.