A Dream Takes Wings

Nearly two-and-a-half years after its formal unveiling, the Dreamliner is now a reality

Early 2004, spurred by its ongoing rivalry with Airbus, which was struggling to resolve problems with the A380 Superjumbo, Boeing embarked on the development of the 787 Dreamliner. In response, Airbus commenced development of the A350, later designated A350 XWB (Extra Wide Body).

Boeing planned to deliver the first 787 Dreamliner to its launch customer All Nippon Airways in the first half of 2008. Unfortunately, the 787 programme was afflicted by repeated delays, with the first flight postponed five times in the past two years, imposing a colossal financial penalty on the company apart from damage to reputation and credibility.

By virtue of its size and capacity, the massive Airbus A380 carries more passengers than the Boeing 747 and is restricted to operating from a limited number of airports. The Dreamliner concept was evolved by Boeing to defeat this very limitation—it has been designed to carry fewer passengers, but to a wider range of airports rather than a large number of people to a limited number of only the major hub centres. The first prototype has a capacity of 250 passengers and a range in excess of 14,000 km. Other versions on the pipeline will have passenger capacity of 210 to 290 and range of around 15,000 km. The Dreamliner, designated a gamechanger and trend setter for future airliners, was to be the most prestigious airliner programme for Boeing. Despite the anticipated price tag, possibly in excess of $200 million (Rs 925 crore) a piece, it proved to be the fastest selling passenger jet in history with orders of around 850 aircraft from 56 customers across the world even before the formal roll out.

The technology employed and the design parameters of the 787 Dreamliner which, it is hoped, will usher in a new era of air travel, are significantly different from conventional airliners. The fuselage and wings are made of lightweight materials, such as carbon composites, instead of aluminum and titanium. The airframe built with new materials is believed to provide more volume inside the fuselage and better structural stability than metallic aircraft. More than 50 per cent of the aircraft by weight consists of new lightweight materials that make it less heavy compared to other conventional aircraft of comparable size and capacity, thus reducing fuel consumption by 20 per cent. This technology fulfills the twin strategic objectives of lowering cost of air travel on account of reduced operating expenses and lower levels of emission. As the airline industry is responsible for pumping huge quantities of Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere with deleterious effects on the climate, it understandably came under the scanner at the international conference at Copenhagen in December 2009.

Technological innovations are, however, often accompanied by surprises—sometimes unpleasant ones. So has been the case with the Dreamliner. The project has proved to be phenomenally complex and a challenge more daunting than Boeing could have ever anticipated. Apart from the complexities and uncertainties of handling new materials on a large scale, the project also suffered from a troublesome supply chain consisting of sub-contactors operating at different levels of expertise, scattered worldwide to supply over four million components for the Dreamliner. Other impediments to the programme were glitches in development of software, incorrectly installed fasteners, ill-fitting parts and evidence of stress levels on the airframe higher than those predicted by the design software model.