If the 2000s focused on the excitement around the design of the new composite Dreamliner, the 2010s were focused on the disappointment of delays, battery combustion, and engine challenges.

Thank goodness for the roaring 20s - at least the post-pandemic ones.

The 787 has quietly become the flagship widebody through a period when widebodies struggled. The former competition of philosophies between Airbus and Boeing that ultimately built the A380 and 787 has largely been resolved. The idea of bigger airplanes between the world's largest hubs lost to smaller, more efficient airplanes, avoiding connections altogether.

In fact, Boeing’s philosophy that drove the 787 won so handily that it became one of the OEM’s biggest problems — the A321LR and ultimately XLR threatens to do the same to many widebodies (threatens and achieves are two very different things.)

But the 787 has not been able to assume the posture of the winner until recently, and only quietly so. Its rise to dominance was slow and difficult. The 787’s economic success has always been clouded by some controversy. Whether that be extreme delays and overweight designs, or the cessation of production for quality issues. There has always been a reason to discuss the 787 other than as a workhorse for the sector.

And values and lease rates have reacted accordingly. Values and lease rates of 787 aircraft have been resilient, to say the least. Each monthly research report we release includes aircraft value and lease rate history for a given aircraft, along with aircraft ratings and fleet demographics. We’ve made the 787-10 report from last winter available here: 787-10 lease rates and values.

Currently, ANA operates the largest 787 fleet, though both Qatar and United have committed to substantially more. And the fleets keep growing. The only airline in the top 25 operators of the 787 that does not have further commitments for new aircraft is Hainan Airlines — for now.

And so, through the challenges of the program to the workhorse of today, we decided it was time to raise a glass and salute the 787 for the slow, yet undeniable achiever it is.

The new Visual Approach Research Library has (finally) launched!

This week, we quietly rolled out the major project we’ve been working on for the past year. All of our research has been combined into a platform designed for quick access to the analysis, charts, and data. We’ve used deep search technology (some call it AI. It’s not a GPT, so we call it deep search) to parse through the hundreds of documents and slides we’ve generated over the years.

As a part of the application, we’re also launching a slide library. It’s one we’ve used internally for years.

The new application is live and available: https://app.visualapproach.io/

Richard Aboulafia returns to talk defense, NATO, and the effect on commercial aviation

“Defense means nothing if you don't have friends.”

Listen to the audio version: Richard Aboulafia’s heavy check

Enjoy the video version: Richard Aboulavia’s heavy check in HD

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