Making sure that Airbus A350 XWB was not the only aircraft grabbing all of the attention at Paris Air Show, Boeing has announced a stretched version of its 787 Dreamliner aircraft. Called 787-10, this aircraft has a 20 foot stretch over the 787-9 and can seat between 300 to 330 passengers. It will be able to fly up to 7,000 nautical miles. Final assembly is reportedly going to be completed soon, test flights will begin in 2017 and the first delivery has been scheduled for 2018.
Ray Conner, Commercial Airplanes President at Boeing, said that this aircraft is “25% more efficient than airplanes of its size today and more than 10% better than anything being offered by the competition for the future.” Quite a lot of customers have already made commitments for the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner. Air Lease Corporation has ordered 30, GE Capital Aviation Services ordered 10, Singapore Airlines placed an order for 30 and United Airlines has ordered 20 of the 787-10 Dreamliners. The 787-9 was announced earlier this year, its slightly larger than the 787-8. It is expected to make its first flight later this year. All three of these aircraft will share a common type rating, meaning that airlines will have additional flexibility in scheduling and training flight crews.