Boeing's new aircraft will be the biggest twin-engine wide body airliner in the world once it hits the market in 2025, sporting innovations, such as 10% better fuel efficiency compared to its predecessor and unique folding wingtips, the company says.
The 777-9 is the larger of two passenger variants, the second being the smaller, longer-ranged 777-8. Boeing also plans to build a freighter option.
Despite ambitious planes, the planemaker has faced a number of hurdles during the 777X's certification, pushing the original certification timeline back several years. Still, about a dozen airlines have so far collectively placed about 450 orders for the jet since Boeing unveiled it in 2013, the planemaker said.
On display next to its Airbus A350 rival, members of the media were invited inside the giant Boeing 777-9 test jet to get a closer look at the certification and production process. Take a look.
The $442 million Boeing 777X is the world's largest commercial plane in production.
Boeing 777X parked at Paine Field in Everett, Washington.
AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
Boeing first announced the aircraft in 2013 and it has undergone production developments and challenges for over a decade.
With a competitive size and range, the 777X has been designed as a replacement for the Boeing 747 and the old Boeing 777.
The Boeing 777X on display at the Wings India air show in January 2024.
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Unlike the Airbus A350, a completely new design, Boeing's next-generation 777X builds off the successful track record of its classic 777 planes, particularly the historically popular 777-300ER.
The latter proved to be one of Boeing's best-selling wide-body planes, with nearly 900 aircraft sold.
The 777-9 can carry up to 426 people in a two-class configuration and fly about 8,400 miles nonstop.
The Boeing 777X family has three variants: the 777-8, the 777-9, and the 777F freighter.
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The smaller 777-8 variant, which carriers such as Emirates have ordered, has a longer range. It intends to fill the niche of longer-haul routes with less demand.
The concept is similar to Boeing's successful 787 Dreamliners, which come in three sizes: small, medium, and large, all with varying range capabilities.
Its long-haul capabilities are thanks to two powerful General Electric GE9X engines exclusively built for the 777X.
The author standing next to the giant GE9X engine at the airshow in India.
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According to GE, the engines are the biggest ever built in the world and can produce some 100,000 pounds of thrust. To give you a visual, the entire body of a Boeing 737 can fit inside the GE9X engine.
The engine is 10% more fuel efficient than its GE90 predecessor, which was developed for the classic 777 models.
The GE9X's first test flight on a Boeing 747 in 2018.
General Electric
GE first tested the innovative power plant on a Boeing 747 test jet during a flight over the Mojave Desert in 2018.
Complementing its next-generation engines are the Boeing 777X’s revolutionary folding wingtips — a first for commercial aviation.
The folding wingtip on the Boeing 777X test jet.
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The 777X has a wingspan of 235 feet and five inches with the wingtips deployed — 23 feet longer than older 777 variants.
The airplane has a longer wingspan to generate more lift, reducing its fuel burn by 10%. But this means its full wingspan can’t fit into 777 gates.
Air New Zealand Boeing 777 (left) at the gate at LAX.
Thiago B Trevisan/Shutterstock
Airports are designed with specific specs for everything from the width of the runways and taxiways to gate-ramp space, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
The above picture shows the space needed for an Air New Zealand Boeing 777 compared to a Lufthansa Airbus A340.
To avoid costly infrastructure changes, Boeing engineered the folding mechanism to ensure its new 777X could use the same airport spots as 777 models.
The folding mechanism addresses the issue of airport gate space.
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When the wingtips are retracted, the wingspan is about 212 feet — the same as the classic 777.
Without the folding wingtips, airlines and airports might be put off by the 777X due to the time and money associated with accommodating the longer wingspan.
The wingtips are safe thanks to redundancies built into the plane, Boeing told BI at the air show.
The cockpit of Flight Test 1.
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A flight test pilot told BI in June 2022 at the Farnborough Airshow in England, the first time I toured the jet, that the wingtips lock in place in flight and only fold once the aircraft reaches the ground and slows to about 50 knots — meaning there is no risk of the wingtips retracting during flight.
"We have a whole slew of alerts that make sure the wingtips are extended prior to takeoff," he said. "It's part of our before-takeoff checklist, which is electronic."
With all of the new technology, these operational capabilities need to be tested, which Boeing does using its fleet of four experimental 777X planes.
Boeing 777X airplane on display at the Paris Airshow in June 2023.
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Each plane focuses on testing various technologies such as auto-land, environmentally friendly materials, low-speed performance, and extended twin-engine range operations.
These tests help Boeing demonstrate the 777X's safety and operating extremes to the federal regulators who certify the jet.
On display in India was Flight Test 1, which has so far flown over 1,300 hours across more than 550 flights.
Flight Test 1 at the air show during a helicopter-flying display.
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A Boeing engineer told BI that the flights are primarily over the US, but a few are international to cover certain high-altitude tests.
Equipped with engineering stations and special testing equipment, the experimental 777X’s interior is unique.
Inside the Boeing 777X cabin.
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The media got a rare look at the jet's skeleton, which had its flight control systems and wiring exposed.
Boeing engineers sit in an area called 'The Pit' in the middle of the plane, which monitors different parts of the aircraft, including weight, instrumentation, and engines.
An engineer told BI the padded seats are comfortable and come with a five-point harness and cupholders.
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Flight-test engineers conduct consecutive tests in one flight for efficiency, and there are typically anywhere from 10 to 20 people on board, an employee told BI.
Higher-risk test flights host fewer employees.
The flights can last from three to eight hours, but test conditions dictate the schedule and length.
The 777X airplane flying over England at the Farnborough Airshow in 2022.
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"If the type of testing is kind of difficult on the body, we won't fly very long," an engineer told BI during a tour of the jet at the Paris Air Show in June 2023. "If it's fuel mileage testing, it's clearly going to be longer."
The yards and yards of orange instrumentation wiring inside the plane are only for testing and will not be on the final product.
Panels of computer systems litter the cabin of the 777X.
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The wiring — which is strewn throughout the entire plane — collects real-time data for the engineers to evaluate to ensure the plane performs as expected.
Other items specifically used for testing include the giant black barrels in the front and back of the jet, which control weight and balance.
Water barrels allow engineers to control the aircraft's center of gravity during test flights.
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Engineers use the barrels to move water back and forth to "hold the aircraft's center of gravity for longer," allowing it to be tested under a range of different flight conditions, a Boeing engineer told BI.
Meanwhile, Boeing highlights the difference between the 777X and the A350 windows.
The size difference between the 777X and A350 windows.
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Boeing said its windows are 29% bigger than those on the A350 and are placed higher on the fuselage to give passengers a better view and make the cabin feel bigger.
Additional tests evaluate possible scenarios, including heavy ice on the wing and how well the jet can recover from an out-of-control spin.
Inside the 777X testbed.
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These tests are all done in various weather systems, too, including storms and rough turbulence.
There is also some non-test-related equipment, such as the few rows of passenger seats that engineers use when traveling.
There are rows of passenger seats used to transport engineers.
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An engineer told BI that the team flew on the 777X to get to the air show, starting in Seattle with a fuel stop in Hawaii.
But he said the passenger seats installed are just for sitting — the TV screens are disconnected.
The seatback screens do not work.
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The engineer explained the seats don't feature anything special, joking that the team has testing data as their inflight entertainment.
"It is fairly comfortable," he said. "We can get up as much as we want. We'll stand at the table and eat. It's just a fun way to travel, especially for a really long-haul flight from the US to India."
While the experimental 777X doesn't have a passenger mock-up inside, Boeing had a digital display to show its cabin design.
The Boeing 777X is designed for 10-abreast rows in economy.
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Boeing's regional director of cabin marketing, Brenna Wynhof, showed the media the two different architectural cabin options, including "A" and "B."
The difference is in the curvature of the ceiling panels.
Wynhof said the 'A' option creates a sense of height, and 'B' creates a sense of width.
The ceiling in economy cabins would arch down, as shown in the pictured mock-up.
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Wynhof said the arch of the ceiling panel from A is flipped 180 degrees to create the B ceiling architecture, explaining the former option is best for business and first class while the latter is best for economy cabins.
"Both of these can exist on the same airplane, with A in premium cabins and B in premium economy and economy," she told BI.
Boeing has also created a unique lighting system to portray different scenes, such as a sunset and the northern lights.
The northern lights color scene is shown in the mock-up. The speckles are meant to resemble stars.
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Wynhof explained that Boeing manipulates the lighting with different gradients.
"The cotton candy sky is the best part of the sunset, and we can achieve the exact same gradient in the 777X because now we can intentionally eliminate the bin face color so the light can gracefully sweep across the cabin," she explained, noting the scene ends on a twilight sky.
