Boeing’s Next EcoDemonstrator Test Bed Will Be a 777

Industry partners join in and test next-gen connected technologies like automatic rerouting applications, ATC to aircraft to airline ops communications, and Internet of Thing (IoT) cabin solutions.

July 3, 2019

William Kucinski

The Boeing Company is kicking off a new round of flight-testing to research approximately 50 technology projects related to safety, environmental sustainability, and passenger experience. The projects will fly on the company’s 2019 ecoDemonstrator – a long-range, wide-body, twin-engine Boeing 777 test bed aircraft.

Boeing's ecoDemonstrator program first took to the skies in 2012. Five airplanes – a Boeing 737-800 , Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner , Boeing 757 , Embraer E170 , and Boeing 777 Freighter – have tested 112 technologies through 2018. More than a third of ecoDemonstrator technologies from previous years have transitioned to implementation at Boeing or by program partners. Nearly half remain in further development while testing on the other projects was discontinued after learnings were accomplished.

William Kucinski is content editor at SAE International, Aerospace Products Group in Warrendale, Pa. Previously, he worked as a writer at the NASA Safety Center in Cleveland, Ohio and was responsible for writing the agency’s System Failure Case Studies. His interests include literally anything that has to do with space, past and present military aircraft, and propulsion technology.

Contact him regarding any article or collaboration ideas by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..