New Star Wars character BB-8 makes its ANA plane-livery debut

New Star Wars character BB-8 makes its ANA plane-livery debut

Star Wars fans, be thrilled. Soon, more Star Wars themed planes will fly in the skies.

All Nippon Airways (ANA) announced that two more of its planes will be decorated with Star Wars characters as part of an agreement with Walt Disney.

New character BB-8, from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, scheduled for theatrical release in Dec 2015, will be featured on the Boeing 777-300ER, while both BB-8 and R2-D2 will feature on the outside of a Boeing 767-300. The airline is calling this the Star Wars ANA jet.

Both planes join the previously announced Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner painted with R2-D2 livery.

The interior of the planes will also be decorated with Star Wars themed headrest covers, paper napkins, and cups featuring characters from the film series.

ANA's agreement with Disney also allows the airline to be the first in the world to offer all six live-action Star Wars films as part of its in-flight entertainment options on international routes.

This will be the first time any Star Wars movies have been included as in-flight entertainment.

The three Star Wars jets will fly international and domestic routes.

The R2-D2 ANA Jet is scheduled to go into service on October 18, operating flight NH116 between Tokyo and Vancouver. After this initial flight, R2-D2 will fly between Japan and other cities in ANA's international network.

In November this year, the Star Wars ANA Jet will fly domestic Japanese routes, and from March 2016, the BB-8 ANA Jet will operate flights between Japan and North America. However, the exact routes for BB-8 have yet to be announced.

andrewg@sph.com.sg

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