US major, American Airlines is to introduce the Boeing 787 Dreamliner on its flights between Chicago and Manchester this summer as it continues to upgrade the service and capacity it is offering to travellers in this transatlantic market. The modern generation airliner will substitute for older 767-300ER equipment for a five month period this summer, but could become a permanent addition in this market.

The aircraft will be introduced on the flights between Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport and Manchester from June 2/3, 2016 and will operate daily through to October 5/6, 2016. Details of the change in aircraft deployment was displayed in the airline’s GDS flight inventory this weekend and first reported by our Airline Route blog on January 31, 2016.

The US carrier mainly uses its Boeing 787-8s on routes linking its United States hubs and flights from them to destinations in South America and Asia, although the type is currently also used on its transatlantic link between Dallas/Fort Worth International and Madrid. American Airlines has previously used the aircraft on its flights to the UK with a limited schedule of 17 return flights between Dallas/Fort Worth International and London Heathrow in September and October last year.

The oneworld alliance member currently utilises the Dreamliner from Chicago on domestic flights to Dallas/Fort Worth and an international service to Tokyo Narita. It will also add 787-8 flights between Chicago and Beijing (from March 3, 2016) and Los Angeles (June 2, 2016) this year.

American Airlines currently operates an up to daily flight between Chicago and Manchester. It is the sole operator on the route since the now defunct bmi british midland ended its own long-haul flights on the route in January 2009. It utilises a 767-300ER on a daily basis during the summer, but reverts to a smaller 757-200ER during the winter months, when weekly frequencies are also reduced. In the last couple of years the airline has also introduced a short winter hiatus suspending flights between early January and March/April.

Its schedule inventory displays that after suspending the route in early January 2016, flights will resume using the 767-300ER from the middle of next month (around four weeks earlier than last year). The 787-8 will be used from early June until early October when the route will revert back to a 767-300ER operation through to the end of the summer schedule. The normal seasonal switch to the 757-200ER will take place at the start of November with flights currently available through to the first week of January 2017.

American took delivery of its first 787 just over a year ago on January 29, 2015. The US major has placed firm orders for 42 Boeing 787 aircraft, with the right to acquire an additional 58. It has committed to acquire both the 787-8 and 787-9 variants as part of the 42 firm orders.