Graphic: Boeing Dreamliner v Airbus380

Millions of internet users logged on to witness the unveiling last night of a new “greener” airliner that the Boeing company hopes will redefine air travel in the way that the 707 did in the 1950s.

Tom Brokaw, the former NBC news anchor, led proceedings at Boeing’s Everett plant, near Seattle, in a sound-and-light celebration that reflected the company’s confidence in the 787 Dreamliner, its first new jet since 1994.

If Boeing’s £5 billion gamble pays off, the long-haul Dreamliner will set new standards for economy and comfort. To satisfy passengers, the windows are bigger, the seats are wider and the air is more pleasant than those in current airliners. The lavatories even flush without noise.

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• Pictures: 787 launch

BACKGROUND

• Flood of orders puts Airbus on a high

• Airbus chief gets back on course

• BA executives to test fly the Airbus superjumbo

Related Internet Links

• The official site with launch video

• Graphic: Boeing Dreamliner v Airbus 380

• Boeing company information

Related Links

• BA executives to test fly the Airbus superjumbo

Multimedia

• Pictures: 787 launch

The date – 7-8-7 in the United States – was chosen as an extra charm for the roll-out of the twin-engined jet, already the fastest-selling airliner in history although it will not fly until September. The 787 will enter service next May if Boeing can stick to its highly ambitious schedule. The company has received more than 677 orders from 47 airlines and leasing companies. Qantas, the Australian airline, has ordered 115 alone.

Unlike the mammoth 525-seat Airbus A380, on which Boeing’s rival has staked its future, the 787 is a medium-sized aircraft, with between 210 and 350 seats. The revolution lies in the jet’s construction. Half the airliner’s primary structure is made of “plastic” rather than metal. Its fuselage is woven out of lightweight composites rather than aluminium panels and its wings are largely made of carbon fibre. The 777, Boeing’s last new aircraft, was only 11 per cent plastic and the new Airbus is only 30 per cent. “You’re just going to look at this thing in amazement and go, ‘Holy smokes’,” said Tom Wroblewski, a Boeing trade union leader, who has been working on the 787.

The lower weight and fewer parts mean that the 787 should use 20 per cent less fuel and require 30 per cent less maintenance than its predecessors. Boeing said that the model would make less noise and its Rolls-Royce and General Electric engines pollute less than those in equivalent-sized jets. “By manufacturing a one-piece fuselage section, we are eliminating 1,500 aluminium sheets and 40,000 to 50,000 fasteners,” the company said. The stronger, nonmetallic, fuselage means that it would be able to withstand more air pressure and humidity inside, giving passengers denser, drier air than in current jets.

Airbus, which has suffered delays in the A380, say that Boeing is overoptimistic about the 787. Executives say that the jet has yet to prove itself and that Boeing may stumble in producing it, as 70 per cent of the 787 is outsourced to contractors. “Our production people are saying Boeing is ramping up too fast and will stumble,” said John Leahy, Airbus chief operating officer.

Boeing, which has recovered since near-collapse in the face of the Airbus onslaught five years ago, is confident that it has judged the market better than its European rival. The medium-sized Dreamliner is designed to serve airlines operating between an array of long-distance destinations, rather than the “hub to hub” mass transit between the key airports that is the target for the giant Airbus. Boeing decided that its ageing 747 jumbos could be updated to serve what it forecast was a limited market for very big aircraft while it focused on more flexible transport. The 787 is aimed at opening direct links between cities such as Seattle and Shanghai, Boston and Athens or Madrid and Manila.

After devoting its energy to the A380, which enters service 18 months late at the end of this year, Airbus responded to the Boeing challenge with a new medium-sized long-haul aircraft, the A350, a replacement for its A330. The new Airbus, the design of which was finished only in December, is not due to enter service until 2013.

Before the 787 enters service on an unprecedented short schedule, Boeing must not only satisfy the US authorities about its performance but also establish an innovative production line. The dependence on suppliers based outside the US shows that the company is borrowing heavily from the car industry.

If the Boeing succeeds as planned, it will open a new age in aviation. “It will be revolutionary,” Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst, said. “It will represent a major technological shift in the way a plane is made and in the way it operates.”

Airbus remains confident that its A380 will emerge as the standard for intercontinental travel over the next decade. Industry experts say that airlines will buy the two types of aircraft, with the A380 dominating the main long-haul routes such as London-New York and the smaller Boeings and Air-buses flying between secondary cities.

Excitement about the 787 stirred extraordinary interest on the internet. A plane-spotter’s website attracted visitors from all over the world after he posted pictures of the 787 being moved between hangars last month. Boeing’s older employees are comparing the Dreamliner launch with that of the 747 in 1969 and the 707, which opened the jet age in the late 1950s.

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