Flight this week remarks that almost every commercial jetliner built today looks like planes designed and built in the late 50's and 60's and that neither manufacturers nor buyers are willing to make a major investment in anything dramatically new
the only really innovative aircraft designer of the last 30 years has been Bert Rutan TBH and he has been building (relatively) small aircraft
I suspect that more aerospace effort is going into designing lighter seats and better cabin electronics than in any new airframe design these days
I agree it's a pity but that's the world we live in - dominated by the money men