OFBSLF & zed3
Collectively you made my point - it certainly is time for a new plane, but the 7E7 doesn't really cut it in either the bigger, better or faster categories. The supercruiser was more the sort of innovative product you'd expect from Boeing given the current economic climate, and it's a bit telling that its been dropped and replaced with an 'updated' version of the status quo.
I don't want to knock the 7E7 too much, it clearly is an attempt to 'modernise' existing design and build practices, but I would imagine it will serve better as a proof of concept platform for future variants of other aircraft than as a stand-alone product in itself.
Statements like "mostly composite" and "greater efficiency" are pretty much what you'd expect nowadays but I wonder if perhaps the in-service life of these birds might be longer - a panacea for airlines, but less so for the manufacturer?
RRAAMJET: Yes the toilet remark was a bit of a daft marketing idea! LOL! I'm sure they meant that their plane would offer better access to facilities, but I couldn't help myself from imagining commode-seats the way it was expressed in that clip!!!!
...but the hint in that scene is perhaps a snipe at the A380, I paraphrase - "imaging not having to share the toilet with zillions of other people"... ...interesting, so Boeing really are getting into this idea of opposing the market for 'bigger' planes - perhaps in twenty years the 7E7 will be the only plane they are selling - one size fits all?