Hey all,

United posted that they'll move or start their long awaited 787 base at ORD, according to their twitter.

https://twitter.com/united/status/1166364998303719425

I wonder what routes? Maybe Asia?

Great video, the 787 looks beautiful. Excited to see the initial markets receiving the Dreamliner.

rjmf22 wrote:

Hey all,

United posted that they'll move or start their long awaited 787 base at ORD, according to their twitter.

https://twitter.com/united/status/1166364998303719425

I wonder what routes? Maybe Asia?

Starting off with Europe and then Asia will be added later on. Starting off with the -9 & -10 and adding the -8 to the mix later on.

CONTACREW wrote:

[twoid][/twoid]

rjmf22 wrote:

Hey all,

United posted that they'll move or start their long awaited 787 base at ORD, according to their twitter.

https://twitter.com/united/status/1166364998303719425

I wonder what routes? Maybe Asia?

Starting with Europe and will add Asia later on. Also ORD will see all 3 variants of the 787. Starting off with the -9 & -10 and later on adding the -8 to the mix.

Do you know which base these 787’s are coming from? IAD and DEN only have -8’s, SFO, LAX, and IAH have -9’s, and EWR has -9’s and -10’s.

Fwiw, I’ve also heard rumor of a top up order of 11 more 78X. To bring total number of 787s to 75.

Already posted in UA network thread

Initial routes BRU, FRA and MUC for S20 schedule.

Commensurate draw down in 777 base staffing

Please discuss the current routes that UA will convert to 787 flying, and do not post speculation masquerading as fact about routes not currently flown, and not likely to be flown by UA from ORD. Thank you!

With this being said, will these 787's be sourced from another hub or are they counting on taking new deliveries in the meantime?

rjmf22 wrote:

With this being said, will these 787's be sourced from another hub or are they counting on taking new deliveries in the meantime?

United has taken delivery of 9 of the 14 787-10s it ordered and has a total of 15 787s to be delivered in 2020) plus 2 777-300ERs before year end 2019. They are not necessarily pulling planes from other hubs.

Looks like BRU, FRA, and MUC will be the first ORD routes to Europe to get the 787. Guessing LHR and ZRH will be flown with the higher density Polaris layout on the 763s. That leaves AMS and CDG for the year-round routes. Guessing that FCO, DUB, EDI remain as is, on their seasonal rotations, equipment wise.

Does anyone know where the 777s that the 787s replace at ORD will go? To service the HND routes?

Cointrin330 wrote:

Looks like BRU, FRA, and MUC will be the first ORD routes to Europe to get the 787. Guessing LHR and ZRH will be flown with the higher density Polaris layout on the 763s. That leaves AMS and CDG for the year-round routes. Guessing that FCO, DUB, EDI remain as is, on their seasonal rotations, equipment wise.

Yes, that's already been announced, no guessing. LHR/ZRH will be operated by the 76L.

How about GRU? Keep the 772? 788?

Cointrin330 wrote:

Looks like BRU, FRA, and MUC will be the first ORD routes to Europe to get the 787. Guessing LHR and ZRH will be flown with the higher density Polaris layout on the 763s. That leaves AMS and CDG for the year-round routes. Guessing that FCO, DUB, EDI remain as is, on their seasonal rotations, equipment wise.

Did they mention which one of the FRA rotations is going to switch to 787 first? Or is it going to be both of them?

For what it’s worth: ORD 777 displacements will be 20 CA and 70 FO.

Scarebus34 wrote:

Fwiw, I’ve also heard rumor of a top up order of 11 more 78X. To bring total number of 787s to 75.

this wouldn’t surprise me at all; my one question is whether it would be the pseudo-ER 78J that NZ is purported to be getting.

CONTACREW wrote:

rjmf22 wrote:

Hey all,

United posted that they'll move or start their long awaited 787 base at ORD, according to their twitter.

https://twitter.com/united/status/1166364998303719425

I wonder what routes? Maybe Asia?

Starting off with Europe and then Asia will be added later on. Starting off with the -9 & -10 and adding the -8 to the mix later on.

Where would the -8's come from? IIRC, they're pretty maxed out schedule wise, especially with DEN-LHR becoming year round.

For now, a pretty even swap for the 4 IPTE 77E that will reportedly go to domestic configuration.

caverunner17 wrote:

CONTACREW wrote:

rjmf22 wrote:

Hey all,

United posted that they'll move or start their long awaited 787 base at ORD, according to their twitter.

https://twitter.com/united/status/1166364998303719425

I wonder what routes? Maybe Asia?

Starting off with Europe and then Asia will be added later on. Starting off with the -9 & -10 and adding the -8 to the mix later on.

Where would the -8's come from? IIRC, they're pretty maxed out schedule wise, especially with DEN-LHR becoming year round.

From what I have seen and heard all three DEN routes could stand to be upgraded. Especially LHR.

Been told that the 787 would basically have to work around the limited gates that the 777 uses. Due to the wingspan it won’t fit on those odd numbered c gates that the 767 currently uses. So it will be limited by gate space until the new gates are built in the revamp. Not sure when they start working on the addition to the south C gates? Any ORD people in the know might be able to chime in on the gate plans.

Also the reports are that T5 is pretty maxed out also. So these 787’s would also need 777 sized gates for their visit to T5 to clear customs.

I'm not sure how many more of the 5 outstanding 78J deliveries are coming by next summer, but I imagine ORD-BRU, ORD-FRA, and ORD-MUC will all be 78J routes. The aircraft could rotate to ORD from EWR via BRU/FRA. All three routes are JV hub-hub routes that could likely support a capacity increase.

Looking further down the road, I expect ORD-PEK and ORD-PVG (and maybe ORD-HND) could be moved from 772s to 789s. Perhaps GRU as well. I expect the 772s will continue flying ORD-HNL, ORD-OGG, and hub-hub routes such as ORD-SFO and ORD-DEN for the foreseeable future.

Bring back HKG now! Or, better, ORD-HNL-HKG-HNL-ORD

It never hurts to ask.

A little late to the party since AA only flies 787 out of ORD.

etops1 wrote:

A little late to the party since AA only flies 787 out of ORD.

I flew into ORD from DUB back in June and couldn’t believe how many 87s AA had there. 3 hops across the pond and it’s quickly become one of my favorite planes

Maybe restarting UA895 when the protesting is over?

OP link no longer works

Looking at the routes, is SFO is the only hub where all 3 variants fly to?

New Link: https://twitter.com/united/status/1166398720293781510

FSDan wrote:

I'm not sure how many more of the 5 outstanding 78J deliveries are coming by next summer, but I imagine ORD-BRU, ORD-FRA, and ORD-MUC will all be 78J routes. The aircraft could rotate to ORD from EWR via BRU/FRA. All three routes are JV hub-hub routes that could likely support a capacity increase.

Looking further down the road, I expect ORD-PEK and ORD-PVG (and maybe ORD-HND) could be moved from 772s to 789s. Perhaps GRU as well. I expect the 772s will continue flying ORD-HNL, ORD-OGG, and hub-hub routes such as ORD-SFO and ORD-DEN for the foreseeable future.

The A350s could also go to Asia when they get to the fleet in a few years, the 772s are getting older so its only a matter of time before they are replaced, the sooner the better for the longer routes, the 772s are indeed better suited for inner hub and leisure routes as they age. I wonder how much the 77E affected the performance on ORD-HKG, i know the route length is right near the edge of performace of the ex continental birds, hopefully with new planes coming and a better product, UA can bring ORD-HKG back to stay.

TheKennady2 wrote:

FSDan wrote:

I'm not sure how many more of the 5 outstanding 78J deliveries are coming by next summer, but I imagine ORD-BRU, ORD-FRA, and ORD-MUC will all be 78J routes. The aircraft could rotate to ORD from EWR via BRU/FRA. All three routes are JV hub-hub routes that could likely support a capacity increase.

Looking further down the road, I expect ORD-PEK and ORD-PVG (and maybe ORD-HND) could be moved from 772s to 789s. Perhaps GRU as well. I expect the 772s will continue flying ORD-HNL, ORD-OGG, and hub-hub routes such as ORD-SFO and ORD-DEN for the foreseeable future.

The A350s could also go to Asia when they get to the fleet in a few years, the 772s are getting older so its only a matter of time before they are replaced, the sooner the better for the longer routes, the 772s are indeed better suited for inner hub and leisure routes as they age. I wonder how much the 77E affected the performance on ORD-HKG, i know the route length is right near the edge of performace of the ex continental birds, hopefully with new planes coming and a better product, UA can bring ORD-HKG back to stay.

ORD-HKG was flown with the UA777s, at least when I took it in 2015. IIRC, flight went out full and some cargo still was loaded.

My guess is that those 77Es had better than sticker range performance.

With all the reconfigs going on and fleet movements, I was having trouble wrapping my head around "what does it all mean?"



With the 787-10s coming to ORD next summer, the routes that get those will see a 15% seat bump. If 787-9s backfill the other 777-200ERs, that'd be a wash in seats.

caverunner17 wrote:

ORD-HKG was flown with the UA777s, at least when I took it in 2015.

This summer, UA put the pmCO 772s on a few routes out of ORD: FRA #1, PEK, and HKG, as well as a domestic triangle (ORD-EWR, EWR-IAH, and IAH-ORD) to rotate aircraft between hubs.