Gallery Update: Chasing a 787-10 Dreamliner at PDX!!!

I noticed that British Airways has been periodically up-gauging their equipment on certain days of the week from the typical 787-8 Dreamliner that they started services with. They've put the longer 787-9 on the route to PDX not too long after the inaugural on a few occasions, and as of recently, the even-longer 787-10 started making an appearance! I knew I had to go and chase one of those down, so I made a spotting trip this evening as Fridays and Sundays have been seeing the 787-10 (which was of course the case today!). I'll definitely be keeping an eye on British Airways' PDX services next year because they are apparently planning on sending Boeing 777s to add even more capacity (which would indicate the route is doing fairly well!).

In addition to the British Airways Boeing 787-10, I also had the opportunity to see another Icelandair 737 MAX today as they've recently scaled back to their brief winter-time service, this time sporting the airline's newest livery which they introduced earlier this year. 

Portland (PDX)

Preview:

British Airways Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner (G-ZBLF) arriving on 10L as BAW267 from London-Heathrow. My first time seeing a 787-10!

Delivered to British Airways in September of this year, so this is a fairly new airframe. Delivery was likely delayed up until recently due to the production issues Boeing faced with their Dreamliners during the past year.

The 787-10 became the subject of study for Boeing after Emirates and Qantas both expressed interest for an even longer stretch of the 787-9 in December 2005, with customer discussions beginning in 2006.

Singapore Airlines "officially" became the launch customer of the 787-10 on May 30, 2013 (provided that Boeing would launch the program) and Boeing formally launched the longest variant of the Dreamliner on June 18, 2013 at the Paris Air Show.

Delta Air Lines Airbus A220-100 (N138DU) arriving on 10L as DAL1610 from Seattle-Tacoma.

BAW267 taxiing to the gate. Similar in capacity to the Airbus A350-900, the 787-10 has been envisioned to be a replacement platform for the Boeing 777-200 as well as the Airbus A330 and A340.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 (N919AK) departing on 10L as ASA100 for Phoenix-Sky Harbor. This is the fourth 737 MAX 9 to be delivered to Alaska Airlines.

The 787-10 is assembled exclusively at Boeing's Charleston factory in South Carolina due to the aircraft's mid-fuselage sections being too large to be able to transport to the Everett, Washington factory. As such, the 787-10 holds the distinction of being the first Boeing airliner assembled exclusively there; this likely played a role in Boeing eventually moving all 787 assembly to Charleston.

Scheduled to depart back to London-Heathrow as BAW266 later this evening. The Boeing completed detailed-design work on the 787-10 in December 2015 and assembly began in March 2016. It shares 95% commonality with the 787-8 and -9 models. The 787-10 first rolled out on February 17, 2017 and first flight took place on March 31, 2017. FAA certification was achieved in January 2018 with deliveries commencing later that same year.

DAL1610 taxiing to the gate.

Jazz Air (d/b/a Air Canada Express) Bombardier DHC-8-402Q Dash 8 Q400 (C-GXJZ) taxiing for departure as JZA8655 for Vancouver.

Icelandair Boeing 737 MAX 8 (TF-ICU) "Dyrhólaey" arriving on 10L as ICE665 from Reykjavík–Keflavík. Only my second time seeing a 737 MAX 8 operated by the flag carrier of Iceland. Also my first time seeing the new livery!

In typical European fashion, this new livery (which was unveiled at the beginning of the year) has been criticized for the lack of creativity and for following a trend that leans toward being more generic (in other words, boring Euro-white fuselage with only the tail section, engines (sometimes) and winglets getting colors as well as billboard-style name painted across the fuselage.

Despite what critics may say, this is the first time since 2006 that Icelandair has completely refreshed their branding and livery.

AirLink Critical Care Transport Pilatus PC-12/45 (N852AL) arriving on 10L from Klamath Falls.

ICE665 taxiing to the gate. 

While this is the new standardized livery for the airline, the only subtle difference will be the varying colors each airframe will sport on the leading-edges of the vertical stabilizer (note the magenta on this airframe).

Each color will represent a different part of Iceland. Magenta will represent the creative power of Iceland. Now I've got to go photograph the four other colors!

Scheduled to return to Reykjavík–Keflavík tomorrow afternoon as ICE664. The aircraft's nickname "Dyrhólaey" refers to a small promontory located on the south coast of Iceland, not far from the village Vík. The name literally translates to "door hill island" and is formerly known by seamen as Cape Portland.

JZA8655 departing on 10L for Vancouver.