Boeing 777X Offers Custom Cabins Without Customization
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APEX Insight: Although Boeing has already secured over 300 firm orders for its enhanced 777, slated for delivery in 2020, mock-ups for the aircraft’s cabin interior have been kept mostly under wraps. Boeing’s Sky Interior philosophy will be applied to the 777X, but some core features will be improved.
Anticipation is building for the reveal of Boeing’s 777X cabin interiors. The enhanced version of the 777, slated to enter production in 2018, will have new engines, folding wingtips, composite wings, technology borrowed from the Dreamliner and touchscreen flight displays from Rockwell Collins in the cockpit – a first for commercial pilots. But the aircraft’s interiors are still mostly under wraps, despite the fact that a full mock-up lies in wait at Boeing’s facilities in Everett, Washington.
“Architecturally, the 777X is new; philosophically, it is the same.” €” Kent Craver, Boeing
“Architecturally, the 777X is new; philosophically, it is the same,” says Kent Craver, Boeing’s regional director of Cabin Experience and Revenue Analysis. “That is key for us because the philosophy is solid.” Boeing’s Sky Interior (BSI) philosophy, originally developed for the Dreamliner but first applied on 737 aircraft, is based on extensive passenger research. Greater emphasis on windows – made larger on the 787 and 777X, thanks to the fuselage’s lightweight composite make – strategic use of light and sweeping curves in the cabin’s architecture are some tenets of the philosophy’s design application.
With experience adapting its interiors philosophy to different aircraft, Boeing designers took things a step further with the 777X and will offer multiple BSI configurations. “It’s about being able to create custom cabins without customization, which I think is really key,” says P.J. Wilcynski, associate technical fellow and Payloads chief architect for Boeing. For example, “We’ve got ceiling panels that go up and out, and then you flip them and they go up and in,” he explains. Intended as a response to demand for differentiation, the various options are on offer so customization won’t come at a cost or prolong delivery time.
“It’s about being able to create custom cabins without customization.” €” P.J. Wilcynski, Boeing
In addition to a more modular approach to interiors, core features have also been improved, including a wider interior fuselage. “On the 777X, we got two hard requests from our airlines,” Wilcynski says. “They said, ‘We want more bag capacity, and make those bins easier to close for our flight attendants and our passengers.'” In response, Pivot Plus bins were enlarged and designed around the shape of passenger baggage. Easy-to-use handles and clever placement of the pivot allow for a bin filled with 100 pounds of luggage to be closed with one hand.
As to color, Wilcynski says that whiter whites and natural hues are in vogue: “We’re seeing a lot more warm coloration, warmer earth tones and residential coloration coming into airplanes, and so we’ll be responding to that on the 777X.”
With more than 300 firm 777X orders to date – 60 of which are for its launch customer, Qatar Airways – the airframer plans for deliveries of the world’s largest twin-engine jet to begin in 2020.