New Airline To Fly Boeing 787?

Easter Jet is looking to fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliner for the very first time as part of its expansion efforts.

The South Korean carrier is currently in discussions with Boeing about supply and demand for the Dreamliner as part of its long-term growth efforts.

The pursuit of the 787 Dreamliner would see the jet acquired by 2027, marking a historic moment for the airline as it would operate these larger planes for the very first time, opening up more possibilities for the route network.

According to reporting by Today Newspaper, a local Korean publication, the domestic low-cost carrier initiated the process to launch an international task force, or more commonly referred to as a TF, in recent months.

This TF was essentially tasked with examining what the business would look like with the introduction of a large aircraft, with the Boeing 787 as the long-term focus.

Following months of internal studies, the airline has now turned to Boeing to understand better aircraft availability, especially larger ones such as the 787, if a contract were to be signed and the jets were to be delivered.

Easter Jet, founded in 2007 and commencing operations at the beginning of 2009, operates an exclusive Boeing fleet, consisting solely of the 737 family, with 20 aircraft in operation.

The airline flies 10 of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets, which average 3.4 years of age, followed by 10 of the 737-800s, averaging 13.5 years of age, the perfect 50/50 fleet mix. Therefore, choosing the 787, as many airlines do, is seen as the ideal option.

If a commitment for the Boeing 787 goes through, the airline would look to leverage this aircraft to begin flights to international markets, including the United States, Europe, and Oceania, with Los Angeles and Sydney targeted.

Airlines Facing Boeing Production Pressures

Pressures on delivery slots have been a common theme across the industry as airlines have been placing new aircraft orders consistently. With that, an inability of planemakers to ramp up production rates has been a persistent obstacle.

Without the ability to hike production rates as intended, airlines have seen their planes be delayed in delivery. Additionally, slots become scarce, meaning popular single aisle programs, the availability of which is lacking until the next decade, forcing airlines to commit to new planes sooner rather than later, and with that can come risks for some operators.

For the 787 program at least, Boeing in November confirmed that it would employ 2,500 people and spend 6.2 million hours in a joint venture between HITT Contracting and BE&K Building Group to improve its South Carolina facility.

Boeing is committed to continuing to call this home for the 787 family, and with that comes the requirement to ramp up production rates of the series. Now that it has broken ground on a new final assembly hall, similar in size to the current building at 1.2 million square feet, this will be important.

The planemaker confirmed that the new hall will include a production line, production support systems, and office spaces to bring the 787s home more closely together and enable increases in output rates to be more comfortable and seamless in the future.

That construction is just one part of the many infrastructure investments valued at more than USD 1 billion at the location, aiming to create 1,000 new jobs in the next five years.

With this in mind, Boeing wants to move to a point where it can increase production across the 787 program, allowing the backlog, which continues to grow, to be worked through at a more adequate pace.

In the third quarter of 2025, the planemaker confirmed that it had finally stabilised its production throughout the calendar year. This is a critical moment to take advantage of the opportunity to support future growth.

Boeing it’llpeful it’ll be able to hit 14 units a month sooner rather than later at its pre-pandemic output rates; however, it also wants to reach 16 per month, which would be a record, and the investments being made are intended to support this.