All Nippon Airways to start Seattle-Tokyo 787 nonstop flight Oct. 1

Passenger flights out of Seattle on Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner are set to begin Oct. 1.

All Nippon Airways of Japan announced Tuesday that on that date it will switch from using the larger 777 jet to the 787 for its Seattle-Tokyo nonstop flight, a new route that opened in July.

Mark Reis, managing director of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, said the news reinforces Seattle's status as "a global gateway."

"This will be an exciting day to see one of our region's iconic products -- the 787 -- return to its home," said Reis.

The 10.5 hour flight departs Seattle daily at 1:15 p.m. arriving in Tokyo at 3:45 p.m. the next day. The return flight departs Tokyo at 5:25 p.m. and arrives in Seattle at 10:55 a.m., earlier that same day Pacific Time.

An economy-class round-trip fare is about $1,300.

On Monday, Japan Airlines (JAL) announced it will fly the Dreamliner from Tokyo to San Diego on four weekly flights beginning Dec. 2. JAL also said Dreamliner flights from Tokyo to Helsinki in Finland will begin next March.

The Dreamliner is a long-range, midsize jet -- ANA's international 787 service has 158 seats -- and the early U.S. routes validate Boeing's marketing strategy. The Dreamliner was sold to airlines as offering the chance to open up new, long-haul, "thin" routes such as Tokyo-Seattle and Tokyo-San Diego, where passenger demand would not support the larger jumbo jets typically used on long international routes.

Seattle Times business reporter