Surprisingly, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner is still the American aviation giant's newest clean-sheet commercial aircraft despite being in service for 14 years. Boeing incorporated cutting-edge technology in the airliner to maximize fuel efficiency and range, leading to half the plane's weight being carbon composites. A sign of progress made by aerospace engineers, the 787 Dreamliner doesn't feature the winglets ubiquitous with modern airliners. Instead, the wide-body aircraft features raked wingtips.
Raked wingtips are a newer innovation compared to winglets. It sweeps the wings' leading edge at a more aggressive angle near the tip, similar to a dolphin's dorsal fin. According to Boeing, the feature can reduce drag by up to 5.5%. That figure may seem marginal compared to the 4.5% drag reduction seen with conventional raised winglets, but we're talking about an aircraft that could burn nearly 1,480 gallons of fuel per hour. Every drop saved is money not spent on more jet fuel. All of the weight reductions and aero efficiency gains for the 787 improved fuel economy by 20% compared to the 767, its predecessor.
You might be wondering, if the drag reduction benefits are so worthwhile, why wasn't every other new plane that rolled off the assembly line after the Dreamliner built with raked wingtips? The Boeing 787's wing design is the result of the aircraft's size and existing airport facilities. While the sky can seemingly accommodate planes of any shape or size, they have to take off and land somewhere. Aircraft need to fit into the airport stands that already exist. Being a wide-body plane, the 787 Dreamliner's 197-foot wingspan wasn't an issue at gates currently accommodating the Boeing 777 and Airbus A330.
It was a different story with the Boeing 737 Max. It originally had a 93-foot wingspan when it entered service in 1968. The 737 Next Generation rolled out in 1997 and stretched to 117 feet and 5 inches wide. However, the 737 entered service in 2017 with a 117-foot, 10-inch wingspan. Boeing's narrow-body plane realistically couldn't be any wider and still comfortably use the same gates at every airport.
It isn't all roses for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, mind. The aircraft suffered its first fatal crash in June 2025. Air India Flight 171 plunged into a medical college shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad Airport in India, killing 241 people onboard and 19 others on the ground. There was a single survivor on the aircraft. However, investigators haven't found any design or mechanical issue with the plane. Boeing itself is still trying to build enough Dreamliners to keep up with demand, as it has already $3.5 billion in late fees to customers over production delays in 2022.