First impressions

Of course, it was also three years late.

The sky-high expectations, which if anything had only grown as the delays mounted, meant that the first 787s entered service amid some seriously intense scrutiny, and AA made the trip to Japan to lend a hand with the scrutinizing. Could the Dreamliner live up to all the game changing hype? ANA certainly thinks so, reporting an overwhelmingly positive response for the 787 with customers queuing up specifically to book trips on the new aircraft. Of course, it’s worth pointing out that as launch customer, ANA has as much riding on the 787’s success as anyone not named Boeing.

Still, there’s no doubt that from the passenger’s perspective the 787 is an impressive aircraft.

Even before the engines fire up, the improvements over previous generation airliners are many and obvious. Windows are far larger, providing a view even for passengers in the middle row. Rather than the dirty plastic window shades of yesterday, these windows can be dimmed electronically, shifting between shades with the push of a button like giant Transition lenses.

The aircraft interior features LED mood lighting in a range of colours designed to sooth, pacify – or at the end of a long haul – gently awakes its passengers. The lights can even glow with a rainbow effect. Familiar bobbles like the no-smoking signs and bathroom vacancy lights also have been redesigned to fit the aircraft’s LED feng shui.

The interior walls rise along nearly vertical lines. Combined with redesigned overhead bins, the cabin offers substantially more headroom than similar-sized aircraft and a generally spacious, non-claustrophobic ambience. Especially when the rainbow is turned on.

Cabin pressure and humidity have been increased – Boeing says the 787 replicates the atmosphere found at 6000 feet above sea level, roughly 2000 feet lower than the typical aircraft. An ANA crew member who had flown on a 787 delivery flight from Seattle to Tokyo said she typically got a headache on a long-haul journey – a symptom attributed to the effects of altitude.

No such problem on the 787, she said.

Being the loudest part of a flight, or so one hopes, takeoff serves to emphasise how much quieter Boeing has made its new aircraft. Once it reaches cruising altitude, the 787 is of course quieter still, allowing passengers to relax and enjoy the rainbow or watch a movie without having to turn the volume up to 11.

Meanwhile those extra large windows, , provide lovely views of the impressively upswept, high aspect wings – if that’s your sort of thing. The composite materials have allowed Boeing to build a thinner wing, allowing pilots to adjust the camber angle for better efficiency in flight. Boeing also says the flight control system is designed to reduce yaw and roll while landing, leading to a smoother approach.

As we ease in Okayama Airport after the short flight from Tokyo Haneda, a small crowd gathers in an observation deck to watch the 787 taxi in. Try that with a 737.

ANA, which has committed to buying 55 of the aircraft, has received five so far – two fewer than it had hoped to have by now. After trialling the aircraft on domestic routes, it recently launched long-haul 787 service between Tokyo and Frankfurt. That points to the flexibility that is one of the aircraft’s key attributes. Small and economical enough for domestic service, it still offers the range and comfort for long haul routes.

ANA has tailored its cabin configurations for these two very different roles. Its domestic 787s feature 12 premium class and 252 economy class seats, while the first long haul versions offer 42 business class and 182 economy class seats.

Yet for all its zen curves and LED rainbows, in the short term the 787’s success is likely to be measured less by its new-wave passenger experience than by Boeing’s ability to build reliable aircraft on time – and on that front the news continues to be decidedly middling. Already three years behind its original delivery schedule, Boeing this month said a manufacturing defect related to shimming of the aft fuselage would force it to make repairs on some of the 50 787s it has built. Meanwhile, ANA was forced to cancel two of its first long haul flights because of computer glitches that caused, respectively, malfunctions of the flaps system and an error in the software that monitors aircraft controls.

Stumbles are to be expected with the launch of any new aircraft and under the microscope aimed at the 787, every hiccup looks like a seizure. Despite the latest problems, Boeing says it remains on track to ramp up production toward a goal of 10 aircraft a month by the end of 2013.

At some point soon, though, Boeing will need to begin making good on those promises.

With many of the interior flourishes that make the 787 unique already trickling down to other better established models and with Airbus readying its own fuel efficient competitors, the game is moving on with or without the Dreamliner. n Additional reporting by Michael Gisick