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The Boeing 787-10 and Airbus A350-1000 are both the most stretched variants in their families, while being built for different missions. The 787-10 and the 787 family overall have remained more popular than the A350-1000 and the A350 family, although both have strong sales. The 787 was built to replace the aging 767 in the passenger role, but not in the freighter role.
To meet the demands of their growing backlogs, both Boeing and Airbus are working to ramp up production, which hasn’t recovered since sharp production reductions during the pandemic. While the A350-1000 is generally better compared with the upcoming 777-9, it is also interesting to compare it with the 787-10. Here is what to know about how much longer the A350-1000 is compared with the 787-10.
A350-1000 & Boeing 787-10 Target Different Markets
The A350-1000 is the stretched variant of the A350, while the Boeing 787-10 is the most stretched variant of the 787 family. Some of the dimensions of the A350-1000 and Boeing 787-10 are somewhat comparable, but they target different market segments. The A350-1000 isn’t designed to directly compete with the 787-10; it is built to replace the rival Boeing 777-300ER. Boeing has responded by updating its 777 series with the 777-9 to compete with the A350-1000. The A350-1000’s target market is high-capacity, high-demand long-haul truck routes, including some ultra-long-haul premium services.
By comparison, the 787-10 is considerably shorter-ranged. It has an advertised range of 6,330 nautical miles compared with the A350-1000’s 9,000 nautical miles advertised range. The 787-10 Dreamliner targets higher-capacity, shorter to medium-long haul routes with dense passenger and cargo demand. Compared with the shorter 787-9, the 787–10 trades range for more space to accommodate more passengers.
The 787-10 is intended to replace the 767-400ER, some 777-200s, and A330-200s on some routes. The 787-10 is more of a regional international carrier than a true long-haul airliner uniting distant continents. The Boeing 787-9 and the A350-900 are the best-selling variants of each family. The 787-9 has the longest Dreamliner range, and that aircraft can serve some of the longest routes.
A350-1000 vs 787-10 Lengths
At 224 feet and zero inches (68.3 meters) long, the Boeing 787-10 is the longest Dreamliner variant, and is a little longer than the Airbus A350-900’s 219 feet and two inches (66.8 meters). The A350-1000 is some 18 feet longer than the 787-10 at 242 feet and one inch (73.8 meters). For reference, the 787-8 is 186 feet and one inch (56.7 meters) long, and the 787-9 extends 206 feet and one inch (62.8 meters).
|
Aircraft variant |
Length (per Boeing, Airbus) |
|---|---|
|
Airbus A350-900 |
219 ft 2 in (66.8 meters) |
|
Airbus A350-1000 |
242 ft 1 in (73.8 meters) |
|
Boeing 787-8 |
186 ft 1 in (56.7 meters) |
|
Boeing 787-9 |
206 ft 1 in (62.8 meters) |
|
Boeing 787-10 |
224 ft 0 in (68.3 meters) |
When it comes to the internal cabin length, the Airbus A350-1000’s cabin is 190 feet and five inches long (58.0 meters), while the Boeing 787-10 is around 175 feet and 10 inches (53.6 meters) long, depending on the exact configuration. Airbus has recently rolled out its New Production Standard (NPS) for its A350s. This reduced the weight of the aircraft and made a number of other improvements. One NPS improvement is reducing the wall thickness by two inches on both sides, allowing the internal cabin to be four inches wider.
The new configuration increases the usable internal cabin length by around 35 inches (0.889 meters) or around 2 feet and 11 inches. This allows new-build Airbus A350-900s to have an internal cabin length of around 170 feet and four inches (51.9 meters), while the A350-1000 grows to 193 feet and four inches (58.9 meters). Older A350-1000s had an internal cabin length of around 15 feet and five inches longer than the 787-10, but that has now grown to around 18 feet with the NPS.
787-8 Vs 787-9 Vs 787-10: How The Dreamliner Variants Differ
The three 787 variants are tailored to different market segments to fill niches and offer a placement for different previous-generation aircraft.
Internal Width & 9 vs 10 Abreast Seating
Internally, the A350’s cabin width is 18 feet and five inches (5.6 meters), growing to 18 feet and nine inches (5.7 meters) with the new production standard. The 787 family is 18 feet and zero inches wide (5.5 meters) internally. There is no difference in cabin or fuselage widths between the different variants. Both aircraft families are designed to comfortably seat nine passengers abreast in economy class, typically 3-3-3.
However, the extra five or nine inches in width does give the A350 some room to be configured ten abreast or 3-4-3. In practice, French Bee and its Air Caraïbes sister airline are the only airlines to configure the old production standard A350 ten abreast. These are low-cost French leisure airlines connecting Paris to destinations in the Caribbean, the United States, the Pacific, and elsewhere.
The NPS only entered service in 2025, with Philippine Airlines being the first customer. Philippine Airlines has become the first flag-carrier to configure its new NPS A350-1000s as ten abreast. These are used on dense leisure routes. It is unclear how many other airlines will choose to configure NPS A350s 3-4-3 in economy class. Ten-abreast will likely be too squishy for most mainline carriers like Qatar and Emirates.
A350-1000 vs 787-10: Other Size Comparisons
The A350-1000 competes in a similar market as the 777-9, although here too, there are differences. The 777-9 is so large for the modern industry that it is mostly confined to major trunk routes with mainline carriers. Around half of the firm orders have been placed by just Emirates and Qatar Airways, with no orders so far coming from US-based airlines or any airlines in the Western Hemisphere.
By comparison, the 787-10 and A350-1000 are more versatile, appealing to a greater range of airlines around the world. The A350 has a slight edge in wingspan at 212 feet and five inches (64.8 meters) compared with the Dreamliner’s 197 feet and four inches (60.1 meters) wingspan. The A350’s wingspan is constrained by Code E airport regulations, although the 777X will get around this with its folding wingtips.
The A350-1000 stands at almost the same height as the 787-10, at 56 feet (17.1 meters). There is only around two inches difference in height. As the A350 is a larger aircraft, it also has larger engines. The Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines have an engine fan diameter of around 118 inches, around six inches more than the 111-112 inch diameters found on the Dreamliner’s GEnx and Trent 1000 engines.
Is An Airbus A350 Heavier Than A Boeing 787 Dreamliner?
By comparing the A350 and 787, we investigate why size matters in the long-haul widebody market.
The Boeing 787-10 Has More Orders
Of the two aircraft, the Boeing 787-10 has so far proven more popular than the A350-1000. Boeing records a total of 497 Boeing 787-10s have received firm orders, of which 139 have been delivered, and 357 remain in backlog. The 787-10 is the final Dreamliner to enter service, launching with Singapore Airlines in April 2018. The 787-9 is by far the most popular with 1,437 orders. The 787-8 was initially popular, but only 25 unfilled orders remain for the variant.
The A350-1000 launched a few months earlier in February 2018 with Qatar Airways. The airline was also the launch customer for the A350-900 in 2015. The Airbus A350-1000 has so far attracted a total of 367 firm orders, putting its total just ten more than the 787-10 as of the time of writing. 109 of these have been delivered, with another 258 examples remaining on order. For reference, 1081 A350-900s have been ordered, of which 591 have been delivered.
Additionally, the Airbus A350F freighter variant is based on the A350-1000, and it has secured around 80 firm orders, of which none have yet been delivered. Boeing has not developed a freighter based on the Boeing 787. Instead, Boeing has continued to build its legacy 777F and 767-300F freighters until new regulations come into force in 2027. After that, Boeing will offer a new freighter based on the upcoming 777-8F.
The Super-Stretched A350-2000 Could Happen
The A350-1000 might not remain the longest A350 variant. Airbus has been considering further stretching the A350 to the so-called A350-2000. This is technically feasible, and while under active study, the project has not been launched. A stretch would likely give the aircraft another 3–4 rows of seats and make the aircraft around 13 to 23 feet (4–7 meters) longer. One of the challenges is developing a more powerful version of the engine, although Rolls-Royce has stated it is willing to do that.
The wing and structure of the A350 have the flexibility for another stretch. This means that the main factor in whether it happens or not is the extent of forecast market demand. The Boeing 787-10 is already the result of two stretches. Boeing has discussed a stretched 787-X or 787-11 in the past. However, Boeing has opted not to do it due to its existing wing being optimized for its current size range, and it would need to develop a new wing.
The post-A380 era has created a gap for efficient 400+ seat widebody aircraft, especially on trunk routes. The stretched A350-2000 would be positioned as an A380 replacement and as another Boeing 777-9 competitor. Potential customers would include British Airways, Air France, Qatar Airways, and others. A challenge for Airbus would be how to capture some of the 777-9 market, without cannibalizing its own A350-1000 market.
