BOEING DREAMLINER

On Oct. 26, 2011, 240 reporters, aviation enthusiasts and assorted passengers climbed into the sky on the maiden commercial voyage of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The plane was Boeing's long-awaited, much-discussed aircraft that's bent on revolutionizing long-haul flights and reconnecting passengers with the experience of flying. Lofty goals, indeed.

As those 240 people filed on this particular configuration of the Dreamliner, space, or the illusion of it, may have impressed them first. Sweeping arches and an open entryway greet boarding passengers. They may have noticed the windows, too. Interior windows are 30 percent bigger than those on any other plane its size [sources: Stevens].

The manual shades are gone, too. At the touch of a button, passengers can electronically darken the glass, which blocks the light from getting in without obstructing the view.

Design-minded folks also may have noticed the lighting. Boeing bid farewell to fluorescent and hello to LEDlighting. With 128 lighting color combinations, the company claims that it will be able to replicate the look and feel of sky and clouds, and even simulate the day from dawn to dusk. With long flights in mind, Boeing says the lighting will help tell fliers that it's time to sleep. Apparently, it also comes in handy if airline attendants want to put on an impromptu rainbow light show.

Moving along, Dreamliner's first fliers also may have taken in the overhead bins, which can accommodate up to four roll-aboard bags. Positioned at an angle, the bins leave more space above passengers' heads and are meant to make the cabin feel larger.

Finally, they would have arrived at their seats. The Dreamliner may give the illusion of more space, but if you're in economy it's probably still going to be cramped. Based on anticipated configuration orders fromairlines, the seat pitch in economy will be 31-32 inches (79-81 centimeters), and seat width will be less than 19 inches (48 centimeters) across [sources: Flynn, USA Today]. In other words, not much different from standard economy, but Boeing isn't necessarily to blame. In their configuration choices, airlines are the ultimate decision makers regarding how much space each passenger will have once seated. It's likely that if you're flying economy, you'll still be bumping elbows and knees throughout the flight.

Boeing's launch partner, All Nippon Airways (ANA), chose a shell-style economy seat, which slides forward instead of hinging backward. This means that when you recline, it doesn't hinder the precious legroom of the passenger behind you. The airline also designed seats that recline into beds for its business class. All passengers on ANA's Dreamliner also will have access to USB ports and electric outlets for charging their cell phones or using their computers.

People are talking about the Dreamliner for more reasons than its interior, however. Some say that the plane's construction has revolutionized the aviation industry. Join us as we follow the Dreamliner from inception to delivery.

A Dream(liner) Is Born

The Dreamliner was actually born from adaptation. In the late 1990s, as sales for the popular mid-sized 767 and 777 slumped, Boeing tested the market waters and introduced a project called the Sonic Cruiser. Conceived with speed in mind, the Sonic Cruiser promised to carry passengers from one place to another 15 percent faster in a completely redesigned, modern aircraft. Sept. 11, 2001, however, changed all that. When fuel prices skyrocketed,airlines were interested in efficiency, not fuel-guzzling speed. So, in 2002, Boeing changed its game plan. The company canceled the Sonic Cruiser project and initiated an alternate plan. In January 2003, the 7E7, subsequently christened the 787 Dreamliner, was born.

The so-called "first new airplane of the 21st century" created an immediate stir. From ditching traditional aluminum and steel for mostly carbon composite materials in its construction to intensive passenger-driven research to overhaul the plane's interior, the Dreamliner wasn't just another airplane for Boeing. The company also turned heads in the industry as it explored a rather unconventional manufacturing business model (more on that later).

Airlines were quick to respond to Boeing's vision. Built for efficiency, the Dreamliner promised to cut costs significantly in a market where it was increasingly difficult to operate. What's more, the interior of the 787 planes would retain the sexy design features intended for the Sonic Cruiser. As a result, orders for the Dreamliner climbed to record-breaking numbers -- nearly 700 sales from 47 customers were recorded before the first test plane was even built [source: Kingsley-Jones]/

With a vision firmly in place, and Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA) on board as its launch partner, Boeing set out to make the Dreamliner a reality. At the crux of this vision were composite fiber materials. Find out why they mattered so much to Boeing

Building the Dream

Scaling up and building large composite structures is guaranteed to come with problems, but Boeing also took the unprecedented tactic of deciding to use more than 50 subcontractors to outsource production [sources: Deckstein, Bloomberg]. Not even the plane's wings and enormous fuselage would be built in-house. This decision represented a drastic deviation from industry manufacturing strategies. It also led to major headaches, as outsourcing issues led to a sizable number of production delays.

Boeing envisioned that components would arrive at its plant in Seattle, where final assembly of the new jet would take just three days [source: Deckstein]. Things didn't go exactly according to plan, however. From overwhelmed subcontractors to unacceptable products that failed Boeing's standards upon testing, milestone after milestone was missed as production delays mounted. Eventually, Boeing had to step in and assume some of its subcontractors' responsibilities to get the Dreamliner construction back on track.

Manufacturing composites on a large scale was a huge technical challenge as well. It had never been done before. Building the sections for the plane's fuselage, or body, involved spinning reinforced carbon fibers around a barrel mold, which was then baked. It may sound simple, but if you think about it, this is a logistical nightmare for an industry that usually makes parts no larger than a bicycle [source: Smock]. To do this, carbon fibers, which are like wide strips of loosely woven tape, had to be dipped into polymers, which have a thick honeylike consistency. Then, you have to wrap them around a mold that's approximately 19 feet (5.8 meters) in diameter and 22 feet (6.7 meters) in height [source: Bloomberg]. Obviously, this isn't a task to be done by hand.

Further, for large components, multiple composite layers are required in order to assure structural integrity. At face value that seems like nothing more than repeating a process one or two times, but layering composites raises the likelihood that bubbles will occur during the baking process. Although bubbles on a paper-mache piñata may amount to nothing more than aesthetics, for a fuselage they're unacceptable. Bubbles weaken the material, which can crack and undermine the integrity of the fuselage.

To overcome large-scale carbon fiber processing and taping over complex geometric shapes, new tooling essentially had to be developed and manufactured. In the end, machine tool producers rose to the challenge. Thanks to their innovative manufacturing solutions, the Dreamliner became a reality.

Passengers Know Best: Designing the Dreamliner Cabin

The history of aircraft cabin design can be described as staid at best. Following the presumption that airlines know best what passengers wanted and needed, manufacturers traditionally relied on airline guidance for cabin design. Boeing, however, had a vision for the Dreamliner. Although economics put the ill-fated Sonic Cruiser project to bed, the company was intent on retaining the modern, innovative design concepts for its successor. It decided to continue its passenger-focused design research to develop the Dreamliner's interior.

In 2002, Boeing opened the Passenger Experience Research Center (PERC) adjacent to the Boeing Tour Center in Everett, Wash. At PERC, the company performed qualitative studies that tapped passengers' brains to figure out their wants, needs and desires. To do this, Boeing used a proprietary method, dubbedArchetype Discovery, to extract key psychological and emotional components regarding air travel common in all passengers. Although the details of the methodology are a tightly guarded secret, Archetype Discovery uses specific questions and techniques to tap into unarticulated wants and needs by exploring each participant's early experiences with flight. Boeing used what it learned in order to evoke the fascination with flying passengers felt during their early experiences [source: Emery].

Boeing also asked passengers to participate in idealized design sessions. Potential fliers were invited to create an ideal aircraft interior from scratch, within viable technology and operational constraints. Those arched ceilings that are a hallmark of the Dreamliner's interior? They can be attributed to what Boeing learned from those sessions. The company found that passengers idealized the use of modulated space, reminiscent of the architecture found in churches. Low-ceilinged vestibules that transition into open, spacious interiors evoke a welcoming, inviting experience [source: Emery].

Finally, thanks to that superstrong fuselage, Boeing had more options regarding cabin pressure, ventilation and humidity -- why not directly test these conditions on potential passengers? The company teamed with universities to conduct studies to identify how passenger comfort and well-being could be optimized. For instance, such studies revealed that passengers experienced fewer headaches and less motion sickness and muscular discomfort at a cabin pressure of 6,000 feet (1,829 meters) than they did at 8,000 feet (2,438 meters), which is the standard level of pressurization used on comparable size aircraft [source: Emery]. Boeing adjusted cabin features so passengers will feel the ill effects of long-haul flights less. This means fewer headaches, dry noses and eye irritations.

It took nearly a decade to perform this research, but that isn't abnormal for an industry where product inception to market typically takes 10 years [source: Barratt]. Boeing broke new ground with its research, however, as no plane manufacturer has ever devoted so much attention to the passenger experience before.

In the end, the Dreamliner arrived three years later than anticipated. Was it worth the wait? Let's see what the plane can do and how it will affect the future of air travel.

The Finished Product

The first of two Dreamliner variants, the 787-8, was delivered to Boeing's launch partner, All Nippon Airways, on Sept. 27, 2011. The 787-8, which weighs 35 percent less than the Boeing 777-200LR, can hold around 240 passengers and is the first mid-sized twin aisle aircraft that will be able to fly 7,650-8,200 nautical miles (14,200-15,000 kilometers) in one go [source: Boeing].

The 787-9, which will be rolled out in 2013, will have a longer fuselage. It will be able to carry 250-290 passengers for a jaunt of 8,000-8,500 nautical miles (14,800-15,750 kilometers). General Electric and Rolls-Royce will manufacture engines for the Dreamliners, and both use advanced technologies that increase fuel efficiency and decrease noise. Thanks to the lighter weight, improved aerodynamics and engines of the Dreamliners, they will burn 20 percent less fuel than any other existing similar sized aircraft [source:Boeing]. How much are we talking? Well, a flight from Los Angles to Narita, Japan, will cost airlinesapproximately $12,600 less in fuel on the Dreamliner when compared to the Boeing 777 [source: Hennigan].

All Nippon Airways plans to use the 787-8 on regular flights to Beijing, Frankfurt and Hong Kong starting in November 2011. Although Boeing's production and delivery woes caused some cancellations in orders, Boeing still has more than 800 orders from 53 customers worldwide for the Dreamliner, which costs around $202 million each. The company aims to deliver four more planes to ANA in 2011 and hopes to be churning out 10 per month by 2013 [source: Hepher].

Airlines will be able to customize cabin interiors more extensively than before with individualized color schemes and branding. The 787-8 is available in three different configurations:

1. 234 passengers in a three-class configuration
2. 240 in two classes
3. 296 people in a high-density, all economy configuration

The Dreamliner will operate mostly from Eurasia initially -- ANA, Japan Airlines and Air India have a total of 117 planes on order to be delivered in 2011 between them. United Airlines will be the first carrier in North America to put the plane into flight sometime in 2012. As more Dreamliners are delivered, new long-range routes will connect cities that until now have not had nonstop flights. For instance, once the Dreamliner is added to its fleet, United Continental Holdings plans to add nonstop service between Auckland, New Zealand, and Houston, Texas, representing United's first direct flight to New Zealand from North America [source: PR Newswire].

Due to its efficiency, the Dreamliner promises to make more nonstop, long-haul flights possible for travelers. Will that passenger-friendly interior make them more bearable? Time will tell. One thing is for sure: Composite technology promises to play a big role in aircraft construction in the future.