So Next Season: On a Boeing 787 Dreamliner

© The Boeing Company

Oonagh Shiel, Site Editor

Where will you be? Going West to East - normally the worst way to get jet lag – shortly (I hope) after 2007 on a First Choice, Continental Airlines or Northwest Airlines flight. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner was previewed at the recent Farnborough Airshow.

Why? The Dreamliner will make jet lag a thing of the past. Eureka! No more exhausted stumbling into the Arrivals terminal to mumble greetings at family members; no more waking up at 4am and wondering if I can really start my day at that time; no more falling asleep at 3pm; no more trying to keep very grumpy small children awake until their normal bed time.

What’s on offer? The Dreamliner’s cabin will be kept at a higher pressure than other aircraft and special filters will make that thin, dry, plane air more humid and much more like what we enjoy on terra firma. Clever lighting will adjust the body clock so there will not be that catch-up moment when you arrive: “Let me see, I left at 6pm on Tuesday and now it’s 8.30am on Monday. Where did the time go? Why do I feel like a 500-year-old?”

Best way to spend an hour? Or ten hours? Looking out of the huge windows at the world below or gazing up at a “starry sky”. The aircraft will have what Boeing describes as a “simulated sky”. The cabin crew will be able to adjust the lights – light-emitting diodes to be precise - to mimic the time of day at my destination.

Top tips The Dreamliner can fly further with less fuel - 20 per cent less – so while this may not mean a cheaper flight, it will mean a lighter carbon footprint.

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