Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner has made a big name for itself already; airlines love it for its long-distance capability and its stingyness with fuel, and passengers praise its cabin design. Now the family’s getting a new big brother, the 787-10.
The new model shares nearly everything, except length, with the 787-9. Boeing says that 95% of the design and build are shared, which allowed for a quick design process, and will give airlines flexibility because pilots won’t need extra training. With a range of nearly 12,000 km, it can handle almost any route now in service.
The original 787, now the 787-8 is in wide service already, and the somewhat bigger 787-9 started going into service last year. Boeing’s big news this week was completion of the specs and preparations for the new model, allowing it to begin ordering parts and tools to build the planes, which will start reaching airlines by 2018. The plane already has 164 firm orders.
Let’s hope they stop stretching it after this model. Don’t want the plane to lose some of the advantages it has.