Boeing unveils eco-friendly airplane

SEATTLE — Boeing Inc. calls its 787 Dreamliner "a new airplane for a new world."

At the very least, the plane — the first of which Boeing plans to unveil here in a gala Sunday event — will be a new experience for fliers accustomed to cramped seats, tiny bathrooms and stuffy cabins.

About 15 inches wider than similar commercial passenger jets, the 787 will come with bigger seats and aisles than most passenger planes have today.

Windows will be 65 percent larger than on any current commercial airplane. Bathrooms are big enough to accommodate a wheelchair. Overhead storage bins are big enough to hold even the bulkiest of carry-on bags.

New climate-control equipment will let flight crews adjust the plane's humidity so the air isn't so dry. New air filtration equipment promises to reduce odors even on the longest shoes-off international trips.

Interior lighting is designed to replicate the sky — brighter on day trips, softer as the sun goes down. Passengers can electronically dim or brighten windows with a touch of a button, eliminating the need for those pull-down plastic shades.

Cabin pressure inside the new 787s will be significantly higher than on most planes today, and oxygen levels higher. Other improvements will make the planes more stable in turbulence, Boeing claims.

"From the passenger's point of view, the 787 will be unlike any other airplane flying," Mike Bair, vice present and general manager for Boeing's Dreamliner program, said at a briefing Friday. "At the end of a flight, you won't feel as dehydrated or tired as you might feel after a flight today."

However, if Boeing's new plane delivers as promised, the biggest beneficiaries won't be passengers, but airline operators.

The mid-sized plane, the company's first all-new aircraft in more than a decade, is the first to be made primarily from carbon composite, a light plastic-like material similar to what you might find in golf clubs or tennis rackets. It also has the most efficient jet engines built.

As a result, Boeing claims the Dreamliner will use 20 percent less fuel, produce 20 percent lower emissions and decrease maintenance costs by 30 percent from similar-sized aircraft today.

"The comfort level stuff, the environmental systems — whatever," said Michael Boyd, a Colorado-based airline industry consultant. "The one feature (airlines) really care about is that it's cheaper to fly."

Despite any uncertainties about the new plane and Boeing's ability to deliver them on schedule, airlines are reserving it like cheap tickets at Christmas time. Boeing plans to deliver the first 787s next May, to Japan's All Nippon Airways.

Continental, Northwest, Virgin and about 40 other airlines worldwide ordered more than 640 of the $150-million-plus planes even before the first one was complete, meaning the Dreamliner is already the best-selling commercial aircraft in history.

Atlanta-based Delta, fresh from bankruptcy reorganization, is considering ordering 787s and is widely expected to do so later this year. Delivery of new orders could take years, since production is sold out through 2013.

"Some (airlines) are drooling over it, others are nervous," said Richard Aboulafia, vice president of airline industry consulting firm Teal Group Corp. in Fairfax, Va.

Assuming the plane lives up to its projections of lower operating costs, "if you're going head-to-head on a route and (your competitor) has 787s and you don't, you're in trouble," he said.

While the Dreamliner so far looks like a much-needed home run for Boeing — which is in a tough fight with Europe's Airbus for sales of next-generation airlines — and a solid hit for operators, it still faces plenty of potential turbulence.

Aside from natural wariness about any new airplane, the biggest concern for Boeing could be getting parts fast enough to fill orders.

Already, Boeing has had problems there. A shortage of bolts and other fasteners, for instance, caused delays on the first 787. If they look close enough at the plane being unveiled here Sunday, journalists and industry executives will find temporary fasteners in the fuselage where real bolts will eventually end up.

Now that the first plane is ready for rollout, production will ramp up and suppliers will be under more pressure. Historically, Aboulafia said, the largest number of planes a company has delivered is about 80 per year. Boeing wants to eventually build more than 100 Dreamliners a year.

"There's no question right now that there's a lot of angst in the supply base," Bair said. Starting "a brand-new program is a pretty terrifying process early on.

"But once you get through that early process," Bair said, "things will be fine."

More issues could surface beginning next month, when Boeing hopes to start an intensive, eight-month flight-testing program to get final Federal Aviation Administration approval for the 787.

"We'll find something (in flight testing) — we always do," Bair acknowledged.

"But when we do," he said, "we'll figure out a way to fix it."