Singapore airlines increases order for 787-10

By Bjorn Fehrm

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Introduction

Oct. 26, 2017, © Leeham Co.: Singapore airlines increased its order for Boeing’s 787-10 from 20 to 39 this week. The first aircraft for the airline rolled off the assembly earlier this month. It will now be prepared for delivery, flying out to Singapore on the new year.

The 787-10 is essentially a 787-9 which can take more passengers. By it, the cost per passenger goes down.

How much better? By comparing with the closest competitor, Airbus A350-900, we can learn by how much.

We will use our performance model to compare the aircraft. It’s a bit apples and oranges, because the A350-900 is a long-range airliner with 8,000nm range, and the 787-10 sacrifices the range of the -9 variant to carry more passengers.

But it’s interesting to see how this sacrifice pays off in efficiency on the type of routes the 787-10 was designed for.

Summary:

  • The 787-10 is optimized to carry 330 passengers out to 6,400nm. It does this with a well-packaged fuselage and the wing of the smaller 787-9.
  • The A350-900 is larger. It has a larger wing, to fly longer. And its fuselage diameter brings more passenger comfort, especially in economy.
  • With both built with weight-saving carbon fiber technology, it’s not surprising the 787-10 is lighter, despite holding a row more of passengers.
  • Weight and size always cost fuel. The difference in fuel burn is consistent with the difference in aircraft capabilities.

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