Re-written: The story of the Boeing 787-10 may be the Dreamliner’s finest chapter

Readers who remember aviation in the late 1980s and early 1990s may recall Boeing’s three-market analysis for the 777: the A market for under seven to eight hours of flying, the B market for a bit more than that and the C market for what we’d now call ultra-longhaul at a reduced payload. These eventually became the 777-200, the 777-200ER with extra MTOW and more fuel, and then, in essence, either the 777-200LR for fewer passengers or the 777-300ER for more.

These A-B-C market categories shifted, and continue to do so, but as we sit at the beginning of the 2020s Boeing’s product line has something of a gap, mostly because the ultra-long-range 777-8 has not exactly been selling like hotcakes, not unlike its earlier 777-200LR ancestor.

Cue the 787 Dreamliner.