Aircraft comparison

Airbus A330-900 vs Boeing 787-9

A Variant
Airbus A330-900 illustration

Airbus A330-900

Airbus · a variant of the Airbus A330

Still in production
2017First flight287Typical passengers13,612 kmRange

Long-fuselage A330neo (the -300's) with Trent 7000 engines, a 64 m wing with sharklets and the Airspace cabin; it entered service in 2018.

View page
B Variant
Boeing 787-9 illustration

Boeing 787-9

Boeing · a variant of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner

Still in production
2013First flight296Typical passengers14,010 kmRange

The 787 stretched by 6.1 m: the best-selling version, 296 passengers and the longest range of the family.

Variants787-8787-9787-10
View page
Add a third (optional)

Natural rivals

In a nutshell

The Boeing 787-9 carries 9 more passengers than the Airbus A330-900: 3% more.

The Boeing 787-9 flies 398 km farther non-stop than the Airbus A330-900.

Over 1,000 km of cruise, the Boeing 787-9 arrives 2 minutes ahead of the Airbus A330-900.

The Boeing 787-9 first flew 4 years before the Airbus A330-900.

About 761 units of the Boeing 787-9 were built: 4.0 times as many as the Airbus A330-900.

To scale

Parked side by side at the same scale: each drawing is as wide as the aircraft is long (the chosen variant or, when the model is chosen, its representative variant).

AAirbus A330-900
Airbus A330 illustration
63.7 m · 209 ft
BBoeing 787-9
Boeing 787 Dreamliner illustration
62.8 m · 206 ft
10 m

Figure by figure

Each bar is measured against the largest in the comparison; the crown marks the leader.

Passengers and range
A287up to 465
B296up to 420
A13,612 km7,350 NM
B14,010 km7,565 NM
A15 h 38 min
B15 h 31 min
Speed and altitude
Cruise speedA Mach 0.82 · B Mach 0.85
A871 km/h470 kt
B903 km/h488 kt
A12,634 m41,450 ft
B13,100 m42,979 ft
Size
Length
A63.7 m209 ft
B62.8 m206 ft
A64.0 m210 ft
B60.1 m197 ft
Height
A16.8 m55 ft
B17.0 m56 ft
Weights
A251,000 kg553,360 lb
B259,228 kg571,499 lb
A135,000 kg297,624 lb
B128,820 kg283,999 lb
Production
Units built
A191
B761

Lifeline

From each model's first flight to the end of its production.

AAirbus A330-9002017 → today
BBoeing 787-92013 → today
20102020

Figures for each variant (and, when the model is chosen, for its most representative variant), taken from manufacturers' published specifications and standard aviation references: every configuration changes them somewhat. A specific aircraft takes its variant's figures when its designation identifies it unambiguously, plus the data in its own record.

Explore the encyclopedia