Against the backdrop of its ZA001 aircraft, Boeing plans to celebrate today the long-delayed award of type certification from the FAA of the 787 Dreamliner. The award ceremony will take place on the flight line at Paine Field in Everett, Wash., site of Boeing’s wide body manufacturing plant. FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt is among planned speakers. Joint FAA and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) type certification is being awarded for the 787-8 powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines. Certification flight-testing of the Rolls-Royce variant was completed August 13 with the final test flight of ZA102, the ninth 787 built by Boeing. Flight-testing continues for two 787s fitted with General Electric GEnx-1B engines and one with improved “Package B” Trent 1000 engines. Seven 787s have logged more than 4,800 hours during some 1,700 flights since the ZA001 aircraft first flew on Dec. 15, 2009. Boeing originally planned to complete flight-testing of the Rolls-Royce variant in nine months, a schedule that slipped to nearly 20 months because of test and production issues. Boeing currently has orders for 827 Dreamliners. The first 787 for delivery to launch customer ANA rolled out of Boeing’s paint hangar in Everett on August 6 in the airline’s special livery. Delivery to ANA is planned in September–some three years late. ANA plans to conduct an inaugural charter flight between Tokyo Narita International Airport and Hong Kong in late October. Following domestic excursions out of Narita as part of a promotional campaign, the airline will launch domestic scheduled service between Tokyo’s Haneda Airport and the western cities of Okayama and Hiroshima in November. The first regular international service from Tokyo Haneda to Beijing will begin in December, followed by Haneda to Frankfurt in January 2012. Depending on cabin configuration, the 787-8 will carry 210 to 250 passengers, with range up to 8,200 nm. The larger 787-9 will carry 250 to 290 passengers up to 8,500 nm.Now building two 787s a month, Boeing plans to increase that rate to 10 by the end of 2013. Under the plans, Boeing would build seven aircraft a month in Everett and three at its new Charleston, N.C. facility.