Randy's Journal: Archives
13 July 2005
The magic is back
A recent poll of readers of "Conde Nast Traveler" magazine found that 87% of the seasoned travelers who make up their readership listed airplane seating quality as the feature they would most like to see improved.
I mention this because it's just one interesting aspect of an excellent feature in the June issue of the magazine. You can read the text of the article, "Cabin Fever," online but you'll have to pick up a copy of the actual magazine to see the detailed illustrations that go along with it.
The 787 interior, as described in the Conde Nast Traveler article, is "a preemptive strike in favor of passengers."
The piece quotes extensively from my colleague Blake Emery, who led the team which had a lot to do with planning and designing the interior of the 787 Dreamliner. They researched the desires of the flying public around the world to understand people's deep, unarticulated needs while inside an airplane.
Emery's basic job is to help Boeing create products that people prefer, including the interior look and feel of an airplane, the external appearance, flight deck design, and anything that will make the people who experience our products prefer Boeing.
I think that's what we've achieved with the 787. It comes through clearly in this excerpt from the Conde Nast Traveler article.
"Even though the 787 is not a jumbo-it will carry about two hundred fifty passengers, three hundred fewer than the A380-it appears to have the spatial qualities of one. The door opens onto a vaulted lobby rather than a cramped vestibule. And there is a surprising amount of light, thanks to the single most revolutionary feature of the 787: its huge windows. Wider and notably taller-extending from the armrest to above the top of the seat-they instantly erase that sense of walking into a claustrophobic tube. Moreover, they invite us to revisit the idea of flying as an ever-changing spectacle of earth and sky-like having an IMAX of one's own."
As Blake Emery points out in the story, flying is a magical way to travel. What we're trying to do with the Dreamliner is bring back a little of that magic we lost along the way.