Airframer
Programs › Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Aircraft program

Boeing 787 Dreamliner

In production
Logbook Follow this page and keep your own private notes on it — log in to start

Long-haul, wide-bodied airliner.

Airframe is 50% composite material, 20% aluminium (wing and tail leading edges), 15% titanium (engines and fasteners), 10% steel (landing gear). Fuselage is constructed from carbon fibre in one barrel section. Carbon fibre is used extensively on the wings, doors, tail and interior. Global suppliers manufactured up to 65% of aircraft with final assembly taking place at the Boeing Everett Factory, Washington and Boeing South Carolina, North Charleston (the latter site only from 2021).

Powered by pylon mounted, interchangeable General Electric GEnx or Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 high-bypass turbofans. Employs noise reducing technology most notably a chevron toothed pattern on the engine nacelles. Low wing configuration with raked wing tips and low drag empennage. Advanced fly-by-wire system with automatically adjusting ailerons and trailing edge. Extensive use of electric systems on board. The no-bleed systems architecture replaces pneumatic systems including air conditioning packs and wing ice protection as well as electric brakes, engine start, APU start and hydraulic pumps.

Two crew in four window cockpit face Collins displays (five screens) and communication systems, Thales integrated flight displays and two head up displays. Large cabin with high onboard humidity, sensors to dampen turbulence and an electro-chromatic dimmable window for every seat.

Lift type
Fixed wing
Assembly
Factory-built
Control
Piloted
Engine type
Turbofan
Application
Cargo, Passenger large

Design & construction

The aircraft as engineered: what it is built from, the systems it flies with, and its configuration — each box a theme.

Airframe & structure
Primary structure
Composite
Wing
Composite
Landing gear
Retractable tricycle
Ice protection
Electro-thermal
Pressurisation
Pressurised
Composite share
50% by weight (published)
Systems & avionics
Flight controls
Full FBW digital
Autopilot
3-axis + autoland
Avionics architecture
IMA
Environmental control
Bleedless electric
Configuration & certification
Wing position
Low
Planform
Swept
Tail
Conventional
continued
Certification
Part 25
Minimum crew
2

Notable technologies — each tag names a technology on our research record for this aircraft, with its fitting status: Primary, Standard, Option or Planned.

Winglets / sharklets Standard Bleedless architecture Primary SAF certified (100%) Standard Predictive-maintenance platform Standard

Technical reference compiled with AI research; a value appears only where two independent research passes and a web fact-check agree. Gaps are deliberate.

A deeper insight into the Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Supplier geography and market analysis for this program — with an Analytics subscription.

Subscribe
The industry ledger — an Analytics feature — holds every dated event on this program: contracts, certifications, first flights and appointments, each linked to its source. See a worked example →

Type variants

VariantLaunch / first flightProduction endNotes
Boeing 787-82004 / 2009Production: 2 (2025) GAMA: 787-8. Baseline variant, typically around 242 passengers.
Boeing 787-92010 / 2013Production: 35 (2026) GAMA: 787-9. Stretched variant, typically 280 passengers. Uses hybrid laminar flow technology to reduce drag. Longest range variant.
Boeing 787-102013 / 2017Production: 5 (2026) GAMA: 787-10. Further stretched variant, typically around 330 passengers.

Airframer

Boeing Commercial AirplanesNews
Boeing Business JetsNews

Other aircraft programs

The program’s dated history — milestones, contracts, supplier selections and facilities, each linked to its source. Log in to view.

Information on this page is compiled from a variety of published sources; links do not necessarily imply recommendation or confirmation by the airframe manufacturer.

Spotted something wrong or out of date on this page? Tell us

Corrections go straight to the editorial team that maintains this directory.