United Continental has now become the first airline in North America to acquire its first ever Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. United Airlines will be the first airline in North America region to conduct flight operations with the help of Boeing 787-8 and Boeing 787-9 aircrafts.

United Airlines said that the newly-acquired Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft is likely to be deployed for operations by the end of September 2014. The4 airline is planning to launch flights using its new aircraft between Houston and Los Angeles.

Media reports said that United Airlines will later on start operating nonstop flights between Los Angeles and Melbourne utilizing the new Boeing aircraft. The flights on Los Angeles-Melbourne route will be the longest ever to be operated by a Boeing 787 variant. The airline further indicated that it is likely to begin six days per week long-haul operations covering a distance of 7,927 miles per flight.

United Airlines is presently operating the longest roundtrip nonstop flight with the help of its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft on routes between Chengdu and San Francisco covering a distance of 6,857 miles.

Ethiopian Airlines is also using a Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft to operate one-way flight between Addis Ababa and Washington. With the flight on Addis Ababa-Washington route, the airline covers a distance of 7,182 miles.

United Airlines has placed orders for 26 Boeing 787-9 aircrafts. The airline already possesses 11 Boeing 787-8 aircrafts in its fleet. The Boeing 787-9 is longer than Boeing 787-8 aircraft, and has the capacity to accommodate 280 passengers, 16 percent more than Boeing 787-8 aircraft.