KEY POINTS:
When the new Boeing 787 rolls out of the hangar to great fanfare in Seattle today, it will have aviation buffs drooling.
But for those who really just want to get from A to B in relative comfort it won't look that radical, from the outside at least.
The most obvious innovation to the casual observer is that it has curved wings. They're designed to cause less drag and to lower fuel consumption.
But it is the materials from which the 787 is made that have led to several big technological leaps.
For the first time the body of a commercial jet has been made from carbon fibre.
As well as allowing the innovative wing design, the carbon fibre makes the planes much lighter overall.
Boeing claims it will be 20 per cent more fuel efficient than a metal body plane of comparable size.
That is good news for airlines - both in terms of operating costs and because of the growing pressure that they address environmental concerns.
But the lower weight and extra strength of carbon fibre has big spin-offs for passengers too.
Most dramatically the 787 will have much larger windows.
The size of windows has traditionally been restricted because they add weight and drag, making planes less fuel efficient.
Boeing believes it has made big enough gains on efficiency to trade off some of that benefit and increase the area of each window by 65 per cent.
Those windows won't have shutters.
To avoid tensions between passengers who want to sleep and those who want to see the view, the windows will be coated in "electro-chromatic" film.
That means they can be electronically tinted so they retain a view but also regulate the light.
Breathing will also be easier on a 787.
Because carbon fibre is stronger than the aluminium currently used to build commercial jets, the air pressure inside the aircraft can be dramatically increased.
In an aluminium-body plane the cabins are pressurised to a level that makes breathing comparable to being at an altitude of 2430m (8000ft) - high enough to increase fatigue and sickness.
The 787s will have cabin pressure equivalent to lower than 1800m (6000ft) - a level at which Boeing's testing found there was no difference to being a ground level.
The air in a 787 cabin will also have a higher humidity - significantly reducing the dehydrating effect of flying.
Airlines keep the air in cabins dry because normal humidity promotes rust and increases maintenance costs.
But because the carbon-based body does not rust, normal air becomes economically viable.
Boeing says it has also developed new filters to reduce the level of "gaseous contaminants" (that faint solvent-like smell) in the cabin air.
Improved computer systems will also significantly reduce turbulence, Boeing claims.
Sensors in the nose of the plane will be able to assess the potential impact of the turbulence and adjust the surfaces on the wings to create the sensation of a smoother flight.
Boeing's testing has found that - for those subject to air sickness - the new sensors offer an 88 per cent reduction in incidence of illness.
