Executives from Boeing, Japan Airlines and long-haul, low-cost offshoot Zipair are talking up the new carrier’s pending launch of passenger flights.
Speaking at the Singapore air show, officials outlined Zipair’s plans, which will launch in May with a fleet of two Boeing 787-8s.
The carrier will initially deploy the Dreamliners from Tokyo-Narita to Bangkok and Seoul.
But the carrier is now working to achieve the extended twin-engine operations aproval required to launch transpacific flights, says Zipair president Shingo Nishida.
Zipair’s 787-8s - sourced from the parent carrier - can accomodate 290 passengers in a two-class layout, with 18 lie-flat business-class seats and 272 in the economy cabin, he says.
The company will not offer seat-back in-flight entertainment, but will instead provide services via passengers’ personal devices, Nishida says.
