New Boeing 777-300ER aircraft delivered to ANA from this month will come equipped with Boeing's Electronic Flight Bag (EFB), in a first for a Japanese airline.

The EFB is being introduced into the ANA fleet from this year to allow the airline to familiarise itself with the technology prior to taking delivery of its first 787 in May next year, on which the EFB will come as standard equipment. ANA became the launch customer of the 787 in 2004, when it placed a firm order for 50 aircraft.

The EFB forms part of the flight deck computer system and allows pilots to access the documentation that they would normally carry in paper form - aeronautical charts, operations manuals, minimum equipment lists and logbooks, amongst others - in digital format on screens built into the cockpit. It also includes an Airport Moving Map application, developed by Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen, which combines airport taxi charts and precise navigational signals to show flight crews their exact position on the ground. With the EFB's advanced information management and more accurate performance calculations, ANA is expecting to streamline the management of flight information, making significant efficiencies while increasing safety.

Mitsuo Morimoto, ANA's Executive Vice President Flight Operations said: "We are excited to try out this new technology in advance of the delivery of our first 787, which will take to the skies of Japan for the first time next year. The 787 and the EFB are evidence of our determination to bring to our customers the greatest levels of comfort and safety available, and we have the advantage of also securing efficiencies in our operations at the same time."