Boeing to stretch the 787

From the BBC

Boeing will build 'stretch' 787

Boeing has decided to produce an expanded version of its 787 Dreamliner aircraft in response to airline demand.

The "stretch" version of the 250-seat plane will seat 300 passengers and will begin flying in 2012.

This was the one weak area in the overall marketing for the 787. Boeing was reluctant to expand the seats as it wanted to maintain the lucrative 777. This will no doubt eat alot into the 777-200ER sales and may drive the final nail in the 300ER as well which musters up about 365 seats. The LR with its huge range will be in play for some time.

This is clearly the right move for Boeing to make. It was under alot of pressure from Emirates to stretch the aircraft and get into the 300 pax range. This will put this head to head with the A350-900 which is also in that range. Emirates is the 800 lb gorilla in the Middle East in the same manner that SIA is in Asia. Who they chose to go with will influence alot of other carriers choices