ANA wants all B787s by 2018

All Nippon Airways Co expects to receive all 55 Dreamliner jets it has ordered from Boeing by March 2018, its president said, adding pressure on the US firm to ramp up production of the much-delayed aircraft. Japan\'s biggest airline by passenger numbers will become the first carrier to receive the 787 Dreamliner on September 25 and plans to have 20 Dreamliners by March 2013. The lightweight jets will by then be helping ANA cut fuel costs by 4-5 billion yen (Dh191-238 million) a year and 10 billion yen by the time all 55 jets are in operation, ANA president Shinichiro Ito told Reuters in an interview. \"We were in big trouble because we had to push back our business plans [due to delays with the Dreamliner],\" Ito said yesterday. \"I\'m so excited to finally be receiving it.\" The twin-engined, wide-bodied Dreamliner, which promises to raise the bar for fuel efficiency and passenger comfort, is about three years behind its original schedule and estimated to be several billion dollars over budget, largely because of snags in its complex global supply chain. Ito said the Dreamliner, along with the company\'s new budget carrier, AirAsia Japan, would play a key role in helping double ANA\'s operating profit margin to ten per cent in three to four years. \"For the 787, we see a few possible destinations in North America and another few in Europe and hope to start the services next business year,\" Ito said. In 2004, ANA initially ordered 50 B-787 Dreamliners, which Boeing promises will provide 20 per cent greater fuel efficiency than similarly sized planes, giving them a longer range. Boeing, the world\'s second-biggest plane maker after Airbus, has taken more than 830 orders for the Dreamliner, whose list prices start at $185.2 million. From / Gulf News