What is Digg?124 Comments
- Zaphod63, on 10/12/2007, -7/+42attendants in bikinis and i'm in
- EtherGnat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+26First class gets high speed wireless. Coach gets a phone jack and access to AOL. ;)
- Dradis, on 10/12/2007, -1/+22*sniff* You had me at 'Wi-Fi' .. *tear*
- JackSeoul, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18Indeed. See this story: "Airlines cramming more seats into Boeing's Dreamliner"
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2006-02-21-dreamliner-seats_x.htm - gometro33, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18I want to see coach class before I make any decisions as to whether this is better or not.
- Smoov, on 10/12/2007, -4/+19doghand wrote:
"It costs an airline $20 extra to fly an empty coke can in a plane as opposed to not having it there."
Are you trying to say that it costs $20 to fly the weight of an empty coke can? Are you nuts, or what? If that was true then every passenger would cost $15,000 to fly and airline tickets would have to cost at least that much just to break even.
BS alert. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16got to respect what boeing have done here.... theyve gone for a much better formula than airbus have.... effficient sleek stylish.... bet the europeans weren't expecting that from america...
- xijio, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15Looks a lot more comfortable than most planes. Inevitably though the airlines will cram more seats in there to maximize profit ;).
- Miyazaki, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14That's a pretty cool plane, but it's missing something....
....it needs some snakes. - radixus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Is it just me, but the inside feels very Star Trek.
Anyway, I find it very interesting the directions Boeing and AirBus are taking for these next-gen airliners. Boeing taking a direction of something smaller, more fuel efficent, less seating but more room for the travelers. But Airbus on the other hand is building bigger, bigger, and bigger.
Looking at the airline industry, I really don't seen the need of bigger airplanes. Why do we need something bigger the Boeings 777 in the sky. I mean airlines are having enough trouble filling the seats in the current 747, 777 planes!
I think Boeing is going to win this battle. As soon as they get the dreamliner into the air and prove to all the airline customers it's a serious aircraft, the orders will be flying in. It just seems the direction of that market. - jasondefaoite, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Coach is shown here...
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/gallery/787/k63450-01.html - dantidote, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10and higher humidity! woot! no more dried out contacts! hooplah!
- doghand, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9smoov: That's $20 dollars all year round. This is a figure brought up in many engineering classes.
- mfloloves, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7well, they are betting on two strategies... airbus is betting that the current hub-spoke system will continue to be the way we travel while boeing is betting on more point to point travel.
the thing is, air travel is expanding most quickly in places like asia. if you look at orders for the airbus a380, they've been mostly from asian and european carriers. i don't think a single north american carrier has ordered an a380.
and boeing just announced the 747-800 so the 747 isn't going anywhere anytime soon. - spin-docta, on 10/12/2007, -10/+17there is always hooters planes
- omenmedia, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7The vase is a hologram that also sings opera
- gometro33, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6OK, so it's just as ***** in coach as usual. Wi-Fi is the only real plus. Oh, and cool mood lighting...
- geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I think (according to Boeing, see below), the new engines they bought from GE are shaving close to 20% of the old fuel costs off their planes. That being said, a lot of older airplanes would likely gain close to that same percentage with a retrofit to support these newer engines; the turbojet has matured so much from the early 90's (I think the plane started flying in 90, but I may be wrong) when most of the 747's currently in flight (the 747-400) were designed/built.
Apparently, according to the one aerospace engineer I graduated with, these 787s are sharing a lot of technology with the newest incarnation of the 747 (the 747-8). I don't know if that means cockpits or computer systems or engines or what, but it sounds promising, the newest 747-8 (according to Boeing's own propa.. err.. advertising, and a site linked to Digg a while back) is supposed to be a lot quieter, faster, lighter, everything the newest incarnation of the flight platform should be. Really shows how much competition is affecting even the biggest of durable goods businesses.
Now if they'd only do something about the unplesant experience of standing in your boxers in the middle of an airport as they scan you, forgetting that you had a bolt in your knee.. - Chompy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I always get a kick out of these sexy concept photos full of lighted ceilings and wide open spaces. You know that any airline that buys these is going to cram every square inch with more seats, just like every plane out there now.
- ultimathule, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8There's a black flight attendant in one of those pictures.
- mrASSMAN, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5ive been hearing (reading, seeing on the news) about this revolutionary new plane for about 2 years now, since its inception. the reason is, i'm near seattle washington, and whatever boeing does is big news around here.. this plane has been selling phenomenally well, WAY past boeing's expectations. in fact, the plane has sold more than any previous plane in their history at launch.
airlines love it because its very cheap to maintain and extremely efficient
consumers love it because it is much much more comfortable then current airplanes in production. higher internal air pressure, humidity, more heat and air conditioning allowance, leg room, soft lights, quiet, etc.
this is all made possible by new technlogically advanced carbon composites. this new material is very interesting.
the dreamliner has been a dream come true for the state economy. it is providing over 100,000 local jobs. - yellekc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The whole Boeing Point-to-Point and Airbus Hub-to-Hub comparison is overblown.
Boeing has launched a revamped and stretched 747 called the 747-8 http://www.747.newairplane.com
it will be competing with the A380 in the large airplane market.
Airbus has launched the A350 to compete with the 787 Dreamliner in the medium size, light weight, ultra long range sector http://www.airbus.com/en/aircraftfamilies/a350/
Neither Manufacturer would put all its eggs in one basket, and neither one will have complete dominance in the Hub-and-Hub or Point-to-Point markets. - spin-docta, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5These photos are ridiculous. A flower vase on an airplane? Unless these dreamlines experience no turblance, then its gonna fall over. Second, coach doesn't look different from any other plane. Who cares about the neon blue lights on an airplane?
- djblast, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5as long as there is WI-FI in coach class, it will kick ass.
..would be nice to have outlets to plug laptops in too. - jk_baller23, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5wow, looks really nice, but then coach/economy class seats looks like crap.
- victory, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3you're right, the plane won't be configured this way. this plane will be great for those in business or first (especially international flights) since any 787 will have new seats, avod (audio video on demand), etc.
economy is a different story, though. airlines can opt for 8 seats across or 9 seats across and boeing is reporting that most airlines are going with 9 across. as the 787 matures, more airlines will opt for this. what does this mean? that means, your seat will only be 17 inches wide versus 18 inches for most widebody planes. the inch makes a big difference. at least there will be bigger windows to look out of, though - xtr3m, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The actual planes that will be used for commercial flights will look nothing like the mock ups seen on photos. This is merely a marketing thing.
The main feature of 787 is that it's going to have a fully composite structure and bleedless engines (all the air passing through the engines will be used for engines' functions and not for powering other things). - Anth, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4The new engines are bleedless - which maens you'd have to do a lot of work to retrofit the GENX engines to any other aircraft.
- skwid, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5This is just concept design ... the 747 looked like that too when it came out... then the compagnies just take everything out and jam as much seats as they can into the plane to sell more tickets ...
Don't get fooled into thinking this will actually look similar in real life ... - diggerman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Some more pictures, videos, and multimedia on the 787. Thanks for digging everyone!!!
http://newairplane.com/en-US/FunStuff/Pictures.html - CheapDigWannbe, on 10/12/2007, -6/+9No black people onboard huh..?
- doghand, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3actually the point of this thing is its cheap and efficient. The airlines will want to buy it because it is cheap
- tryferos, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Nice plane...we make interior stuff for it at my company. But more importantly, check out the MILF
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/gallery/787/k63434-05.html - TheAtomicYak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2In response to SpikeX: That would be pretty counter productive to the way airlines operate. They need to make back their investment in the airplane ASAP, the only way to do so is to fill the plane every flight. You'd never do that by having extrordinarily high ticket prices (100 seats at $500=$50,000, while 275 seats at $250=$68,750). They's put them on their busiest routes first to start to save the most money on operating costs, I'd imagine. Besides, I've never seen an airline that offers a differentiated pricing structure just to fly on a certain type of plane (the Concorde would be the exception). Most business travelers would want to cut travel costs and wouldn't pony up the extra dough.
Any A&P mechanics out there notice the clips that are holding the bulkhead to the fuselage section in this picture?
http://www.boeing.com/commercial/gallery/787/k63211-1.html
Those clips look hokey. I hope that's just a manufacturing rig. "Fuselage sections [built] as full barrels with integrated stringers." I'd HATE to have to cut out a section of a stringer to repair it. That would be a mighty impressive composite patch job, especially if you had to go through the skin to get to it. Figure there is a 24 hour cure for resins in patch jobs like that, the possibility exists for some composite skin repairs to take longer than a comparable sheet metal repair. I wonder about the maintainance costs? - jpesicka2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2before wifi in planes, i would use a sprint pcs sattelite card for my iBook, now i can bring my mouse & play fps's aswell (no fps on sattelite, lag issue)
- eclectek, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I can't believe you had to look up MILF
- nihilator, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The interiors will become very different once they are sold/leased to the actual airlines.
- aquadude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Woah, I wouldn't mind having 1st class as part of my house.
- korteenea, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I too found the interior to be quite similar to that of the Galaxy-class Enterprise from Star Trek.
- schwit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It all comes down to reducing the cost per passenger mile. Fuel efficient aircraft(better engines, better materials and better aerodynamcics) that are designed for ease of maintenence are compelling and can pay for themselves easily if the savings are sufficient, especially with the current fuel prices.
- mfloloves, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2airlines have the option of putting seats 8 across or 9 across in economy. most are going with 9 across. the further we go, the higher the ratio will be of airlines going 9 across.
- omenmedia, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I showed the pics to my boss and he said (looking at the exterior) that it looks like the wings are flapping. We have now come to the conclusion that to achieve the 20% less fuel burn, the coach class passengers are required to "flap" the wings of the plane to the beat of a drum.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Interesting. Looks like a case mod.
- SWiG, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I doubt it would never be configured like that and you would almost never fly it within the states. You are lucky nowadays if you get anything bigger than an RJ of some sort within the continental US.
- sierranovember, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3the plane is totally modded out.
the vase could be bolted down.
coach is expected to be bull. - meanjoe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Looks like it is easier to join the Mile High Club on it.
http://747.newairplane.com/funstuff/Pictures/picture10.aspx - dpk87, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5You mean snakes on a plane! Brilliant! Lets make a movie.
- rudolphdude, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Let the final battle begin between Boeing and Airbus. Point to Point (Dreamliner) and massive Hub to Hub (A380).
- Evgeny, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"I think (according to Boeing, see below), the new engines they bought from GE are shaving close to 20% of the old fuel costs off their planes. That being said, a lot of older airplanes would likely gain close to that same percentage with a retrofit to support these newer engines; the turbojet has matured so much from the early 90's (I think the plane started flying in 90, but I may be wrong) when most of the 747's currently in flight (the 747-400) were designed/built.
Apparently, according to the one aerospace engineer I graduated with, these 787s are sharing a lot of technology with the newest incarnation of the 747 (the 747-8). I don't know if that means cockpits or computer systems or engines or what, but it sounds promising, the newest 747-8 (according to Boeing's own propa.. err.. advertising, and a site linked to Digg a while back) is supposed to be a lot quieter, faster, lighter, everything the newest incarnation of the flight platform should be. Really shows how much competition is affecting even the biggest of durable goods businesses.
Now if they'd only do something about the unplesant experience of standing in your boxers in the middle of an airport as they scan you, forgetting that you had a bolt in your knee.."
Actually, its the 747-800 that shares a lot of technology with the 787, not the other way around. The 787 uses a lot of the research that was done on the Sonic Cruiser concept. The result: bleed-less engines, vast amounts of composite materials, and better overall performance. The 747-800 then used some of the lessons learnt on the 787 program to create a lighter, more fuel efficient version of the jumbo.
Either way, Airbus right now is playing catchup in the 250-300 person aircraft market with their A350. Same can be said though for Boeing and reacting to the A380 with the 747-800, allbeit its a bit different because the A380 is just so much bigger than the said jumbo.
Whichever way you look at it, its going to be an interesting few years for aviation enthusiast and passengers alike! - piratearggghhh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Coach will probably be even more packed with crying kids, people sniffling and sneezing...fat people oozing on to your seat....all crammed in like sardines. We might see our first on board plane riot againt first class.
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