The testing, which begins later this month at Boeing’s site in Glasgow, Montana, is being conducted on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner that’s serving as Boeing’s 2026 ecoDemonstrator Explorer airplane.
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This Boeing 787-9 is scheduled to be delivered to Lufthansa at a later date and features Trent 1000 engines from Rolls-Royce. The testing is expected to run through mid-August. Being tested on these flights are:
The Next Generation Inlet, a reduced-length engine inlet demonstrator with advanced acoustic treatments. The inlet enables the integration of more fuel-efficient engines onto future platforms, and reduces weight and drag while maintaining the acoustic performance.
Modified departure and arrival procedures, including Intelligent Operations flight paths, which aim to reduce community noise around airports. These flight paths are algorithmically generated using multiple data sources to identify opportunities for fuel-efficiency and noise benefits.
Since 2012, the Boeing ecoDemonstrator program has accelerated innovation by taking new technologies out of the lab and testing them in an operational environment to help solve real-world challenges for airlines and passengers. The ecoDemonstrator program has tested more than 260 technologies to enhance safety, reduce fuel use, emissions and noise and improve operational efficiency and the passenger experience.
More information about the 2026 ecoDemonstrator test program.