Boeing 787 Dreamliner: the composite long-haul twinjet

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a twin-engine, long-haul widebody airliner built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, made largely of composite materials rather than aluminium. Boeing designed it to open new long, thin long-haul routes that earlier widebodies could not fly profitably², and it has become a mainstay of international airline fleets since entering service. The type remains in production and in active airline service¹.

Design and development

The 787’s first flight took place on 15 December 2009¹, several years after the programme was originally expected to fly, following well-documented delays in its composite structure and global supply chain.

Its signature feature is a fuselage and wing built mostly from carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer¹, a departure from the aluminium construction of earlier Boeing widebodies. Boeing pairs that lighter structure with two General Electric GEnx-1B or two Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 turbofans², giving airlines a choice of engine type on the same airframe.

Specifications

The 787 comes in three fuselage lengths. The mid-size 787-9, the most-produced variant, is 62.8 metres long, while the family ranges from 56.7 metres for the shortest 787-8 to 68.3 metres for the stretched 787-10. All three variants share a wingspan of 60.1 metres. Maximum take-off weight scales with size, from 227,930 kg for the 787-8 up to 260,360 kg for the 787-10, with the 787-9 at 259,220 kg².

Range is the type’s calling card: the 787-9 can fly up to 15,370 km, while the longer 787-10 trades range for capacity at 13,890 km. Typical two-class seating runs from 200-275 on the 787-8, through 250-325 on the 787-9, to 300-375 on the 787-10², and the aircraft cruises at Mach 0.85, about 903 km/h. List prices in 2019 ran from 248.3 million dollars for the 787-8 to 338.4 million dollars for the 787-10¹, though airlines typically pay well below list after discounts.

Variants

The family has three members built around one wing and cross-section: the short 787-8, the mid-size 787-9, and the stretched 787-10, which differ chiefly in length, weight, range and seating as set out above. The 787-9 is the most-produced of the three². By August 2026, 1,303 787s had been built across the three variants¹.

Operators and service

With more than 1,300 aircraft delivered across the three variants, the 787 is in widespread airline service on long-haul routes, and the type remains in production¹ for new orders from airlines worldwide.

Similar aircraft

• Airbus A350: Airbus’s rival composite-airframe widebody, aimed at the same long-haul market as the 787.
• Boeing 777: Boeing’s larger, earlier twin-engine widebody, often flown on denser long-haul routes alongside the 787.
• Boeing 747: the four-engine jumbo jet the 787 and other twinjets have displaced on many long-haul routes.