Hi All,


A couple of days ago, I had the chance to be onboard the first revenue flight of Air France's Boeing 787-9 - flight AF787 on January 7, 2017.

You can read the full report at the following pages:

Part 1 (ground experience): http://www.knaviation.net/air-france-bo ... ral-part-1
Part 2 (inflight experience): http://www.knaviation.net/air-france-bo ... ral-part-2



A selection of ten pictures to tell you the overall story follows.

1. Check-In in a Sleepy Terminal

I arrived at Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2E shortly before 5:30AM, and soon after me, other passengers started arriving to check-in for the very special flight.




2. Breakfast by Air France

In the area around gate M44 where the flight was departing from, Air France was offering the inaugural flight passengers some light refreshments including pastries and fruits.




3. "AF787 Heroes by Sacha Goldberger

French photographer Sacha Goldberger was doing a photoshoot on the apron where passengers had the chance to dress up as aviators and get their photo taken.




4. "Bienvenue 787," Welcome Passengers

During boarding, passengers were welcomed in the jetway by two rows of Air France employees holding "Bienvenue 787" signs.




5. Flight Information Booklets

After boarding was finished, booklets including information both about the Air France 787-9 and the flight we were taking (incl. menu) were handed out by the crew.




6. Celebratory Brunch Service

During the flight, a celebratory brunch was served to everyone on glassware.




7. Corsica and Mediterranean

During the flight, we were offered magnificent views of Corsica and Mediterranean, as well as of the French coast and Alps.




8. In-Flight Cockpit Visit

Shortly before descend, after seeing a photo of the cockpit on fellow passenger's phone, I decided to give it a shot and head to the front. To my great surprise, I was able to go in and grab a few photos!




9. Exploring the Cabin

After landing back in Paris, I stayed onboard until other people deboarded to take a look around the cabin, and even the crew rest.




10. AF789 and Onwards

The day before our flight, AF787 sightseeing flight was operated for the airline's employees and for media. Also, after our flight, another sightseeing flight, flight no. AF789, operated. Finally, the day after our flight, another round of AF787 and AF789 flights was operated. Each of the four flights showcased different regions of France.





If you enjoyed the photos above, please read the report and see more photos below:

Part 1 (ground experience): http://www.knaviation.net/air-france-bo ... ral-part-1
Part 2 (inflight experience): http://www.knaviation.net/air-france-bo ... ral-part-2

I hope you enjoyed the report. Thanks for reading!

If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.

Best regards,
Keishi
http://www.knaviation.net

Very interesting...thanks for sharing!

Wonderful report, and a great effort on the part of Air France to make this flight as memorable as possible - very impressive!

Wow! Congratulations to Boeing, AF and you!

Nice report but won't be long til that airplane is as dirty as the other AF planes

Great report, Keishi and superb job by AF, they really made it a special event. Makes me look forward to my LH A350 inaugural in early Feb, let´s see whether they put together a similar event on the MUC-HAM-MUC flights...

Why all these off-site diverts? If you're going to post your trip report here, please do. If not, then don't.

Thanks for a well-crafted trip report, with nice pictures, and descriptions. It is nice that AF were able to do a great job of it, with a special mention for the crew. Lovely!
Cheers, Sumantra.

KLDC10 wrote:

Wonderful report, and a great effort on the part of Air France to make this flight as memorable as possible - very impressive!

aeromoe wrote:

Very interesting...thanks for sharing!

EddieDude wrote:

Wow! Congratulations to Boeing, AF and you!

sumantra wrote:

Thanks for a well-crafted trip report, with nice pictures, and descriptions. It is nice that AF were able to do a great job of it, with a special mention for the crew. Lovely!
Cheers, Sumantra.

Thank you all for the nice comments - I am glad that you enjoyed the report! And indeed, Air France set the bar quite high with this flight. I took a bunch of inaugurals/farewells in the past, and this one certainly ranks somewhere at the very top.

stratosphere wrote:

Nice report but won't be long til that airplane is as dirty as the other AF planes

Thanks! We can only hope they will make as good of a job cleaning it as they did welcoming it!

zolagola wrote:

Great report, Keishi and superb job by AF, they really made it a special event. Makes me look forward to my LH A350 inaugural in early Feb, let´s see whether they put together a similar event on the MUC-HAM-MUC flights...

Thanks, glad you enjoyed! I am definitely looking forward to reading about and seeing photos of the Lufthansa inaugural - their 737 farewell flight seemed to have been organized fairly well!

MarcoPoloWorld wrote:

Why all these off-site diverts? If you're going to post your trip report here, please do. If not, then don't.

One of the biggest reasons I post here is that I believe people here enjoy seeing this kind of report.

And why an "off-site divert?"

Formatting the report for A.net (or any other platform for that matter) takes quite a bit of time. At the same time, I understand that posting just the link would be out of place. With that in mind, I came up with this format where even looking at just the post here should be enjoyable, but where I do not have to re-format the whole report. I would guess the other bloggers' that post in a similar way are thinking along those lines as well.