Wide-bodied jets have always fascinated me. Give me a ride to anywhere on a 777 or even an A330 and I’ll happily jump on at the drop of a hat. While I have nothing against narrow-bodied aircraft – after all, they serve short routes very ably – I’ve always felt them to be more functional in nature and often devoid of the pleasure of flying. Hence, when I got the opportunity yesterday (thanks to Shashank!) at the Singapore Airshow to be on-board a demo-flight of Boeing’s latest, much-feted beauty, the 787 Dreamliner, I could hardly conceal my delight. It promised to be a flight to remember and by jove, it was!

The Dream Cabin
I must admit that it was love at first sight. As we walked up to where she was parked on the Airshow grounds, we could not help but admire the graceful contours of the plane and quite obviously, that fascinatingly lovely bent wing-tip. Having scouted for the best positions to take photographs “with” her, we had a whale of a time taking snaps, especially the ones with her engines. Soon it was time to board. …

After production delays of over two years, an analyst called the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the “delay-liner”. But aren’t production delays part and process of every new aircraft that is designed from scratch? It was the case with the Airbus A380 and even the Boeing 747. I believe it is important to look beyond the hue and cry about the delays and would like share my thoughts about the engineering and design marvel that the Boeing 787 is, and how it can be a brand differentiator for many airlines.

I was fortunate enough to be given a private tour of the Boeing 787 cabin, and I published the photos on SimpliFlying earlier. Now, I’m publishing the exclusive video tour of the cabin, which is housed in a life-sized mock-up of the plane at Boeing’s state-of-the-art Customer Experience Center. I was very impressed with this flying machine, and you’ll know why when you watch the video.

Here are three things I feel that will make the Boeing 787 experience very different for airlines, and passengers.
1. Boeing brings back the charm of flying
Did you know that the windows in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner are much larger than any planes flying today? Did you know …