Sometime next year, the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner will rise into the skies above Seattle. The takeoff will probably be like any other, but the plane sure won't.

Why? One word: composites.

The midsize, wide-body 787--whose overall design Boeing finalized just a few months ago--is the first commercial jet to have fuselage and wings made almost entirely of advanced, plasticlike materials known as composites. Composites are mixtures of resins and high-strength fibers of carbon, boron, graphite, or glass. They are generally lighter, stronger, and more resistant to fatigue and corrosion than the aluminum alloys widely used in planes today. In the 787, Boeing is using mostly carbon-fiber composites, which in smaller quantities are found in items such as high-end bicycle frames and the fenders of expensive sports cars.

The aerospace industry has sought to use more and more composites instead of metal to create more agile and fuel-efficient aircraft. These new materials have been going into military planes for decades, and in recent commercial aircraft they account for 10 to 25 percent of the total weight; they are used in small fuselage components, tails, and select portions of the wings, such as trailing-edge flaps.

IMAGE: BOEING

BOLD BID

Composites make up half the weight of the Boeing 787, shown here in an artist's rendering.

But fully half of Boeing's 250-seat Dreamliner will be composites [see photo, "Bold Bid"]. The company says that thanks to the new materials, an improved aerodynamic design, and better engines and onboard systems, the 787 will burn 20 percent less fuel than comparable jetliners and have maintenance costs 10 percent lower.

For Boeing, still recovering from a 2003 government-contract scandal and the forced departures of two consecutive chief executives following accusations of unethical conduct, the composite strategy is part of a bold bid to regain leadership of the US $50-billion-a-year worldwide market for commercial planes. The Chicago-based company, which in the 1950s introduced the hugely successful 707 passenger jet, reigned supreme in that market for decades. Two years ago, however, its archrival and only real competitor, the European jet maker Airbus SAS, in Blagnac, France, surpassed Boeing to become the world's largest commercial plane maker as measured by total revenue. It was hardly a shock: Airbus's ascendancy came years after it began introducing planes widely considered to be technologically superior to Boeing's offerings.

But more recently, while Airbus focused on size with its gigantic 555-seat, four-engine A380, Boeing instead chose to emphasize efficiency. The two-engine 787 will be able to fly long routes previously possible only for jumbos, a capability that analysts say is proving appealing to today's cost-obsessed airlines.

"Boeing put money into developing the most efficient small long-range plane yet--and it's worked out very well," says Richard L. Aboulafia, an analyst with aerospace consultancy Teal Group Corp., in Fairfax, Va. "I call it arguably the best industrial counterattack in the past 30 years."

More than just another all-new plane, the 787 represents an evolutionary transition for Boeing's commercial unit: from a traditional plane manufacturer to a global systems integrator. The company recruited contractors all over the United States and in Australia, Canada, China, Italy, and Japan, to help not only manufacture but also design the new plane. It's an ambitious project with a number of firsts in commercial aviation. At the top of that list is the design of the 30-meter-long composite wings.