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By Paul Bravmann
Imagine a plane with comfort features so advanced that the effects of jet lag—the bane of the long-distance traveler—are reduced to a minimum. Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner, scheduled to be delivered to carriers including Northwest Airlines, AeroMexico, Air Canada, Japan Airlines, and Singapore Airlines beginning in mid 2008, just might pull off that feat.
Constructed from state-of-the-art composites (in other words, carbon-fiber reinforced plastics), the Dreamliner’s fuselage allows for higher cabin pressure and humidity—environmental improvements that, according to Boeing’s extensive research, will lower the incidence of headaches, dizziness, and irritation of the throat and eyes associated with air travel. The climate of the cabin will be further enhanced by the use of a cutting-edge gaseous filtration system, a sort of "fine-toothed comb" that is able to purge the air of molecular contaminants.
Related upgrades include dynamic LED lighting that will transform the cabin ceiling into a soothing simulated sky, and new noise- and turbulence-control technologies designed to ease fatigue and motion sickness.
Is the Dreamliner the beginning of an era of more-tolerable air travel? Quite possibly. Airbus recently announced plans to construct the similar A350 XWB, which should take to the skies by 2013.
Copyright © 2008, American Express Publishing. All rights reserved.
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