Air Tahiti Nui (TN, Papeete) has taken delivery of its first B787-9 following the hand over of F-OMUA (msn 39297) on Saturday, October 6. The aircraft will shortly be positioned to the South Pacific where it is provisionally set to enter scheduled passenger service on November 7 on flights from Papeete to Auckland International and on November 8 to Los Angeles International.
The Tahitian carrier has four B787-9s due from Boeing (BOE, Washington National) as part of its fleet renewal program. The second and third aircraft, on lease from Air Lease Corporation, are due to arrive in May and June next year respectively with a fourth set to deliver in September 2019.
Collectively, the jets are replacing Air Tahiti Nui's outgoing fleet of five A340-300s.
The B787-9s will feature a total of 294 seats of which 30 are in Business class, 32 in the new Moana Premium, and 232 in Moana Economy.
