Boeing's 787 Dreamliner has taken to the skies with its first paying passengers on a trip from Tokyo to Hong Kong.
An Italian man mistakenly bid over 100,000 (AU$153,500) in an online auction for a seat on the maiden passenger flight of Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner.
Gino Bertuccio says he immediately realised that he had added too many zeros to his bid.
'I was trying to email them to say I don't want to pay that much,' he said.
Fortunately, ANA - the Japanese airline operating the flight - decided to charge him only 15,000 (AU$23,000). Mr Bertuccio, a cosmetics importer based in Miami, believes he got value for money.
'When I woke up this morning I was so excited,' he said. 'It feels great to be making history.'
As the Dreamliner took off from Tokyo with its first passengers, he sat in business class with Boeing vice president Scott Fancher.
They were joined on the flight by around 100 of ANA's frequent fliers and international media.
Passengers were toasted with sake at the boarding gate and fire trucks doused the plane ceremonially as it taxied for take-off.
Boeing says the jet represents a revolution in air travel. But, unlike Airbus' giant A380, the 787 is no bigger than many other conventional aircraft.
The Dreamliner is made from carbon fibre rather than traditional aluminium and steel.
'Carbon fibre is very light, but very strong,' Boeing's Scott Fancher told Sky News.
'We've been able to build a plane that can withstand the loads in flight, but that burns 20% less fuel.'
Environmentalists hope that will translate into an overall reduction in carbon emissions but several airlines have indicated a lower fuel bill will allow them to put on more flights.
Critics have raised questions about the safety of carbon fibre in severe turbulence but Boeing dismisses them as 'nonsense'. The plane was certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration after 20 months of testing.
Boeing also says the 787 will give passengers more comfortable travel.
Features include windows that dim at the touch of a button, LED mood lighting, and noticeably quieter engines.
But the plane's exterior is again the key. Carbon fibre is stronger than metal and does not rust. That allows more cabin pressure and greater humidity.
In place of the roar of any jet engines, I heard the somewhat soothing, low background drone of the 787’s electrical systems (the Dreamliner employs a new technology, completely separate from the engines, to supply electricity to the passenger cabin).
Engine roar is further lessened by the addition of noise-reducing — and, I think, rather stylish — chevrons on the 787’s engine nacelles.
The twin-aisle 787 also features Boeing’s new Sky Interior cabin configuration, which — thanks to the LED lighting, unique overhead bins, large windows and sleek styling — increases the sense of space and chic. Roomy is impression, if not the technical reality (the 787 is actually smaller than Boeing’s 777 and 747, as well as Airbus’ A380, A330 and A340.)
Fliers who board the 787 also enjoy higher humidity and a cabin pressure equal to 6,000 feet above sea level, some 2,000 feet lower than on all other large commercial airliners. That reduces the impact of jet lag and dehydration, according to Boeing and ANA, although my flight was too short to discern the difference.
Boeing was able up the 787’s onboard humidity and air-pressure factors because the composite materials from which the Dreamliner is constructed are less prone to rust than traditional aluminum airliner skins, an ANA representative told me. Composites, strong and more stress-resistant, are to thank for those larger windows.
After a round of iced green tea and commemorative “First 787 Flight” cookies, plus a flyover tour of Tokyo-area sights such as the new Sky Tree communications tower and Mount Fuji, ANA’s 787 flight crew glided our trusty new Dreamliner, all too soon, back onto one of Narita’s runways.
The flight may have been short but the memory will last a lifetime.
Fans of the new ABC television series “Pan Am,” which portrays and re-creates an era when flying was not only novel but nice, should book a ticket as soon as the 787 starts flying out of U.S. airports. (Barring ANA transpacific flights on the 787, the scheduling of which is still “up in the air,” the first such journeys should be aboard LOT Polish Airlines between New York and Warsaw, starting in late spring 2012).
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Gino Bertuccio says he immediately realised that he had added too many zeros to his bid.
'I was trying to email them to say I don't want to pay that much,' he said.
Fortunately, ANA - the Japanese airline operating the flight - decided to charge him only 15,000 (AU$23,000). Mr Bertuccio, a cosmetics importer based in Miami, believes he got value for money.
'When I woke up this morning I was so excited,' he said. 'It feels great to be making history.'
As the Dreamliner took off from Tokyo with its first passengers, he sat in business class with Boeing vice president Scott Fancher.
They were joined on the flight by around 100 of ANA's frequent fliers and international media.
Passengers were toasted with sake at the boarding gate and fire trucks doused the plane ceremonially as it taxied for take-off.
Boeing says the jet represents a revolution in air travel. But, unlike Airbus' giant A380, the 787 is no bigger than many other conventional aircraft.
The Dreamliner is made from carbon fibre rather than traditional aluminium and steel.
'Carbon fibre is very light, but very strong,' Boeing's Scott Fancher told Sky News.
'We've been able to build a plane that can withstand the loads in flight, but that burns 20% less fuel.'
Environmentalists hope that will translate into an overall reduction in carbon emissions but several airlines have indicated a lower fuel bill will allow them to put on more flights.
Critics have raised questions about the safety of carbon fibre in severe turbulence but Boeing dismisses them as 'nonsense'. The plane was certified by the US Federal Aviation Administration after 20 months of testing.
Boeing also says the 787 will give passengers more comfortable travel.
Features include windows that dim at the touch of a button, LED mood lighting, and noticeably quieter engines.
But the plane's exterior is again the key. Carbon fibre is stronger than metal and does not rust. That allows more cabin pressure and greater humidity.
In place of the roar of any jet engines, I heard the somewhat soothing, low background drone of the 787’s electrical systems (the Dreamliner employs a new technology, completely separate from the engines, to supply electricity to the passenger cabin).
Engine roar is further lessened by the addition of noise-reducing — and, I think, rather stylish — chevrons on the 787’s engine nacelles.
The twin-aisle 787 also features Boeing’s new Sky Interior cabin configuration, which — thanks to the LED lighting, unique overhead bins, large windows and sleek styling — increases the sense of space and chic. Roomy is impression, if not the technical reality (the 787 is actually smaller than Boeing’s 777 and 747, as well as Airbus’ A380, A330 and A340.)
Fliers who board the 787 also enjoy higher humidity and a cabin pressure equal to 6,000 feet above sea level, some 2,000 feet lower than on all other large commercial airliners. That reduces the impact of jet lag and dehydration, according to Boeing and ANA, although my flight was too short to discern the difference.
Boeing was able up the 787’s onboard humidity and air-pressure factors because the composite materials from which the Dreamliner is constructed are less prone to rust than traditional aluminum airliner skins, an ANA representative told me. Composites, strong and more stress-resistant, are to thank for those larger windows.
After a round of iced green tea and commemorative “First 787 Flight” cookies, plus a flyover tour of Tokyo-area sights such as the new Sky Tree communications tower and Mount Fuji, ANA’s 787 flight crew glided our trusty new Dreamliner, all too soon, back onto one of Narita’s runways.
The flight may have been short but the memory will last a lifetime.
Fans of the new ABC television series “Pan Am,” which portrays and re-creates an era when flying was not only novel but nice, should book a ticket as soon as the 787 starts flying out of U.S. airports. (Barring ANA transpacific flights on the 787, the scheduling of which is still “up in the air,” the first such journeys should be aboard LOT Polish Airlines between New York and Warsaw, starting in late spring 2012).
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