Jetstar’s long awaited 787-8 “Dreamliner” will finally arrive in Melbourne Tullamarine next week. QANTAS Group CEO Alan Joyce, Jetstar Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka along with a select group of people will be on this special delivery flight from Boeing’s Paine Field, Everett, USA.

The specially numbered fight JQ7878 is scheduled to leave Paine Field on 07 October 2013 at 1100 bound for Honolulu, Hawai’i where it will touch down at 1340. After an overnight, the Dreamliner is set to depart Honolulu on 08 October 2013 at 0630 bound for its new home at Melbourne’s Tullmarine. It is expected to land at Melbourne on 09 October 2013 at 1405. All times are expressed in local time. A water canon salute will greet the 787.

Jetstar’s 787 will be configured in a very high density accommodating a total of 335 passengers in a two class configuration. It will have 21 conventional seats in Business Class in a 2 x 3 x 2 layout and 314 seats in Economy a 3 x 3 x 3 layout. The aircraft will go through various a series of non revenue test flights in Australia before being deployed first on domestic flights from early November. The likely cities will be Cairns and Gold Coast flights from Melbourne. International flights are expected in mid December with the most likely city to be served initial is Denpasar, Bali. Japan and Hawai’i services are expected to be served by the 787 in early 2014.