SEATTLE (Reuters) - Boeing Co. yesterday unveiled a redesigned interior for its largest passenger jet that aims to give air travellers what the planemaker says they want: to feel like they are flying.Boeing’s goal with the cabin of its new 747-8 Intercontinental is to re-connect passengers with the sense of flying, which one company official called “mankind’s oldest metaphor for freedom,” and provide a refuge from the hassles of modern air travel.

“We discovered that today people in many cases just like to numb themselves to the experience (of flying),” said Klaus Brauer, Boeing’s director of passenger satisfaction and revenue at a demonstration of the plane’s new interior.

“We are trying to get deeper than things people can articulate.”

The 747-8 Intercontinental is the latest, stretched version of its well-known 747 jumbo line, which first began service in 1969.

The plane, launched in November 2005, is 18.3 feet longer than the 747-400, Boeing’s largest existing plane. It is scheduled to enter service late in 2010.

To create the illusion of a roomier and more open cabin, Boeing used florescent blue sconce-like lighting projected upward from a lip below the curved ceiling. The designers sought to draw attention to the larger windows, which sink into the cabin’s side panel.

There is more space in the overhead luggage bins, enough to allow each passenger to bring a carry-on suitcase.

The actual passenger configuration will depend on Boeing’s airline customers.

With a small section of upstairs seating, which Boeing calls the “SkyLoft”, the plane is designed to carry 467 passengers in a typical three-class configuration.

That makes it Boeing’s rival to Airbus’ A380 superjumbo, which will be able to seat 555 in three classes, when it enters service later this year.

Boeing is incorporating some of the new technology on its hot-selling 787 “Dreamliner” into the new jumbo and believes the seat-mile costs will be 10 percent lower than the 747-400.

The plane’s list price is $272.5 million to $282.5 million, but air carriers always get discounts on publicly quoted prices.