Let's face it: Boeing in back and in grand fashion no less. On Sunday, the airliner - in deep competition with Airbus - is set to reveal its the first carbon-composite 787 Dreamliner. Orders for the new plane have been flying in (pun, intended), with air carriers placing 55 orders for the lightweight, fuel efficient plane.

The jet will not look radically new on the outside, but beneath the just-dried paint lies a structure 50 percent made up of carbon composite materials and another 15 percent titanium, making the plane much lighter and fuel efficient than existing jetliners of the same size.

The use of fatigue-resistant and rust-free composite materials means air in the cabin can be more humid, leaving passengers less dried out and jetlagged after a long flight.

The lighter weight and newly designed engines made by General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE - news) and Britain's Rolls-Royce plc (RR.L) mean air carriers will save about 20 percent on fuel costs.

Airlines have jumped at the plane after years of struggling to turn a profit, and Boeing is rapidly closing in on 700 orders, worth more than $100 billion at list prices.

The plane is trouncing rival Airbus, whose competing A350 XWB (extra wide body) has been bedeviled by design changes. The European plane maker conceded that the day -- 7/8/07 in U.S. date shorthand -- belonged to Boeing.

"Even if tomorrow Airbus will get back to the business of competing vigorously, today is Boeing's day -- a day to celebrate the 787," Airbus chief executive Louis Gallois wrote in a letter to Boeing CEO Jim McNerney in a letter made public by Airbus on Sunday.

Airbus and Boeing are the subject of a long-running EU-U.S. trade row over subsidies, and often jab at each other in the press. But the European company is most likely glad to cede the spotlight to Boeing as it puts more pressure on the Chicago-based firm to actually deliver the finished plane to customers from May next year.

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