With the commercial delivery of the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner finally just a few months away, Boeing’s flight training arm has won provisional approval to begin training the first commercial pilots on the new plane.

That provisional approval will be made permanent once the 787 is fully certified to enter into commercial service.

Boeing Flight Training Services has developed a sophisticated curriculum of courses, simulator training and in-aircraft flying to equip pilots to operate the new aircraft.

Pilots who already fly the larger Boeing 777 can take as little as five days of transitional training to be qualified to operate the twin-jet 787.

The first Dreamliner is now scheduled to be delivered to launch customer All Nippon Airways late this year or early in 2011. The Dreamliner had originally been scheduled for its first delivery in May 2008, but technical, production and labor issues delayed its testing and delivery by 2 1/2 years.