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Boeing 787 is a magnificent machine. Pleasure to fly: from bigger windows, to higher humidity, to fuel efficiency, to innovative materials, to arching beautiful

• pluc 8y ago
  How much more does it cost for the bigger window and the innovative material seat?
  • ceejayoz 8y ago
    I don't know that the windows add much cost directly - they're just a bonus side-effect from the carbon fiber construction. The innovative materials are for cost savings - carbon fiber instead of metal means less worry about metal fatigue, which means you don't have to take the whole plane apart as frequently to look for cracks. (Lighter too, which reduces fuel consumption.)
• dingaling 8y ago
  Arching wings ( usually exaggerated in renderings ) are an interesting point of difference between Aitbus and Boeing. The higher the wings flex, the less efficient they become since the lift vectors aren't perpendicular. So, a more rigid wing is more efficient but also heavier. And you need some flex to ride turbulence, though active control surfaces can help. Boeing has moved back to very flexy wings like it started in the jet era with the B-47 but Airbus tends towards more rigid. A few years ago I took a trip in a DC-10 and those wings were like planks of aluminium, they didn't flex at all.