Last week, British Airways announced their inaugural routes for their first two Dreamliners, saying they will fly to Toronto starting September 1st and Newark starting October 1st, a move that, while not surprising, did disappoint yours truly. While unlikely, it could have been possible for Washington to receive one of British Airways inaugural 787 flights given the fact that British Airways' international 767s fly primarily to the East Coast and Canada, and Dulles gets one of them (read more about why Dulles could have gotten BA's inaugural here). This got me thinking about what other possible inaugural routes Dulles could see. In just the past year and a half since I started following the industry, Washington has seen dramatic growth, adding 3 new airlines and inaugurating the 787 Dreamliner for Ethiopian Airlines. Dulles even had the honor of being the destination of the worldwide launch of the Boeing 747-8 Intercontinental, flown by Lufthansa from Frankfurt. With more and more airlines flying new aircraft like the 787 and A380, and the launch of the A350 just a year away, could Dulles' next superstar route be just around the corner?
When the FAA let the Dreamliner fly again, it opened up doors for hometown airline United to fly some more off-the-beaten-path routes to Latin America and Africa. Cities such as Buenos Aires, Johannesburg, Sao Paulo and even potentially Rio de Janeiro could see service from United thanks to the 787's cost efficiency, making niche routes more financially viable. One route United could especially target in the upcoming years out of Dulles is a flight to Accra, Ghana. The West African capital used to receive service from United by their 767s, the primary aircraft the 787 is set to replace, but was dropped a year ago citing poor financial performance. Thanks to the improved economics of the Dreamliner, we could see that route make a comeback.
A few years after the Airbus A350 starts flying commercially, which will come in about a year, don't be too surprised if you see a couple of them buzzing through Dulles airport. Not only does hometown airline United have 35 A35-1000s on order due for delivery in 2018, but many other airlines that already fly to Washington have orders of all variants on the table, including but not limited to, Emirates, Air France-KLM, Aeroflot, and launch customer Qatar Airways. The airlines that have placed firm orders have variants that are perfectly fit to replace the aircraft they currently have flying here. United's order for A350-1000s, the largest variant, are most likely to be used to upgrade capacity on load heavy routes, and along with Newark and Chicago, Washington could see capacity increases on routes to major European cities such as London, Paris and Amsterdam, cities that the airline already flies up with 777-200s, their largest twinjet by capacity.
Disagree on potential routes? Think a different airline could bring something new to Washington? Think I missed something? Leave a comment below with your thoughts.
