Star Wars fans are very close to taking to the skies in a plane dedicated to the classic and upcoming films.
The first passenger flight of the R2-D2 plane, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, will be a fan appreciation event on Oct. 17. All Nippon Airways, based in Japan, will begin international service with the plane on Oct. 18.
The aircraft was unveiled in September as it made its way out of the hangar in Washington state. Now you can see how it came to be:
(function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));The first chapter of R2-D2™ ANA JETThis Saturday will be the first passenger flight for R2-D2™ ANA JET! From painting to its actual flight departing from The U.S., here is the whole story.→http://ana.ms/1jPkYA3Posted by All Nippon Airways on Tuesday, October 13, 2015
The ANA Star Wars Project is a partnership with Lucasfilm Ltd., which is owned by Disney.
ANA is running several contests featuring the plane, including one that will give 20 fans a seat on the plane in Singapore on Nov. 14.
The R2-D2 plane will fly domestic routes in Japan, and international routes from Tokyo to Beijing and Jakarta in Asia; to Sydney in Australia; to Seattle and San Jose in the United States; Brussels, Munich, Paris in Europe; and to Vancouver in Canada.