Ambassador Kennedy Celebrates New Boeing 787 Dreamliner

August 4, 2014

AMBASSADOR KENNEDY: Thank you for having me here today. Hello everyone. It’s a great pleasure to join you at this special demonstration flight to commemorate the delivery of the new stretch version of the Boeing 787 to ANA. I’d like to thank Chairman Ohashi and Chairman Ito and Boeing Japan President Maffeo for making this day possible.

Two young American brothers invented the airplane, and Orville Wright said, “If we all worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true is really true, there would be little hope of advance.”

So looking at this beautiful plane, we realize that we should all hold onto the belief that everything is possible. By following our hearts and our dreams we can invent and create in ways that today may seem unimaginable. The Wright brothers would barely recognize this amazing plane we celebrate today, but it all began with their belief that man could fly, and their courage to follow their dreams.

This is an exciting day, and I congratulate ANA for becoming the world’s first airline to operate the world’s most efficient airplane. Not only is this a test of the possible, but a symbol of the countless ways that Americans and Japanese people work together to forge the deep and lasting ties between our nations.

Thank you, and I hope you all have a great flight over Mount Fuji.