The situation has turned around dramatically for Boeing’s Dreamliner after its shaky start three years ago when it was grounded due to questions over its safety, writes Joe Brancatelli for the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Since then, the Boeing 787 has become a mainstay of global aviation with more than 400 Dreamliners delivered so far and another 1,100 on order. In addition, it is pioneering more than 100 direct routes between cities that have never before had a nonstop connection.

American Airlines already flies the 787 on direct routes from Dallas to Hong Kong and Beijing, while China’s Hainan Airlines has set its Dreamliners on new routes from Los Angeles to Changsha and Boston to Shanghai. The company with approximately 4,500 employees in Ridley Park thinks that there will be more than 400 such routes eventually.

“We’re getting our first 787-9 tomorrow,” says Joel Chusid, the U.S. Executive Director of Hainan. “We’ve already got ten 787-8s in service and 34 Dreamliners on order.”

The original 787-8 Dreamliner can carry 242 passengers up to 7,355 nautical miles, while its successor, the 787-9, can fly 290 passengers as far as 7,635 miles. A 330-passenger version is also planned for 2018.

According to Chusid, the plane is also impressively fast, as some 787 flights between the United States and China have arrived two hours ahead of schedule.

Read more about the Dreamliner in the Philadelphia Business Journal by clicking here.