If I hadn’t heard the chatter when I was at Heronswood Gardens last week, I might have missed Boeing’s saturation PR about its new jet aircraft, the 787. The buzz was brewing all over Seattle.

Two dramatic innovations make their debut: a newly designed wing and a composite skin covering half the plane. Add to them a new jet engine that consumes 20% less fuel while carrying the same number of passengers, and the impressive 787 deserves last Sunday’s well-engineered hoopla.

But I’m disappointed about a few things. Although Boeing has to return a profit to its public shareholders, they should emphasize more consumer benefits. For example, the 787 is no faster than its predecessors. To their credit, Boeing designed a plane with faster speed in the early stage. However, their clients—the airlines—favored lower costs over speed. Thus, the lightweight, “environmentally friendly” composite as well as the conservative top speed engine specs. But they forget how anxious people get on long flights, and how much time they believe they “waste” in air travel.

The only customer-related highlights were the 5 square inches added to the window size and the added humidity due to the use of non-corrosive material. Few people spend any time looking out the windows, but the moister air will be a great relief.

Boeing omitted reference to a significant increase in passenger compartment space. Either they forgot it or there’s no change in the blood-clotting legroom for anyone above average in height. Additionally, the rhetoric about “connecting the world” bothers me. I have had enough of the new world order. With bird flu, TB, West Nile and lesser-known infectious diseases floating around, might Boeing think twice before rhapsodizing about how they can bring “the small cities of the world” in touch with each other? Anyone ask the small cities? It sounds self-serving. The past has taught that plagues often follow shifts in world travel. Perhaps the airlines should partner with the CDC in their expansion plans. Just like they should consult with the AMA about those leg wells in coach.

Finally, who was the executive that decided to offset the production of the wings to Japan? What did Boeing receive for allowing the plane’s essential manufacturing process to be performed overseas? A more level playing field for US carriers to operate within Asia? The unions must have gotten a heck of a deal. I’m “feeling Bethlehem”.

Boeing is one of the greatest, most strategic and forward-thinking industrial manufacturers in the history of the world. My dad flew in the war and later for Northwest early in his career, so I heard countless pilot stories. Anyone working in aviation is a member of one of the world’s great elites. Thus, I’m all the more disappointed that Boeing brass overlooked a couple of key customer benefits, in my view, as well as let the wing fly away.

But it is a gorgeous plane.

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