Qantas has taken delivery of its first Boeing 787-9.

“We’ve taken delivery of hundreds of aircraft in our 98-year history but only a few of them have been game-changers like this one,” said Alan Joyce, CEO of the Qantas Group. “In the 1940s the Lockheed Constellation meant we could fly around the world, and in the 1960s the Boeing 707 took us into the jet age and cut flying time in half. The Boeing 747 changed the economics of travel for millions of people and the sheer size of the Airbus A380 meant we could reimagine what inflight service was like. Our version of the Dreamliner follows in those footsteps. It gives us a combination of flying range and passenger comfort that will change how people travel.”

The airline plans to deploy the first aircraft, named Great Southern Land, on a number of domestic services for crew familiarization before the first international long-haul flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles on December 15, 2017.

The second 787-9 for Qantas is on the production line at the Boeing factory in Everett, Washington, and will be delivered by early December. Two more will be delivered by March 2018, when Qantas launches its non-stop flight between Perth and London. Additional long-haul routes are being considered.

All eight 787-9s on order will have entered the fleet by the end of 2018, allowing for the retirement of five 747-400s, according to Qantas.