Here’s a cool fact for the Boeing history books. Today, the second airplanes from each of our new programs were contractually delivered to our customers. Cargolux flew their second 747-8 Freighter directly to Luxembourg a short time afterward, while ANA will fly away with their second 787 Dreamliner on Saturday.

Side by side. The second 747-8 Freighter for Cargolux and the second 787 for ANA.

I also wanted to share a great photo from Sea-Tac Airport where Cargolux put its first Freighter into revenue service yesterday, loading 101.5 tonnes of cargo. After a 9-hour flight to Luxembourg, the new Freighter greeted observers with a low fly-by.

Cargolux puts its first 747-8 Freighter to work.

The 747 program also began Function & Reliability (F&R) certification testing on Wednesday for the 747-8 Intercontinental, one of the last phases of flight testing prior to certification. During this testing phase, Boeing pilots will show the airplane, its components and equipment are reliable and function properly in simulated airline operation. The Intercontinental has completed more than 75 percent of the flight testing required to achieve its Amended Type Certification.

Meanwhile, our friends at ANA began training this week on their first 787 by flying the Dreamliner to airports including Haneda, Kansai and Naha. ANA will fly its first revenue flight between Tokyo and Hong Kong on October 26.

ANA does more training on its first 787 Dreamliner at Haneda Airport.

It’s great to see our airplanes being delivered and even better seeing our customers putting them into action.