Wasn't another thing that Boeing believed that fuel economy would become more important in the future and thus developed airframes with fuel efficiency in mind?
At the time the Dreamliner was being announced people were initially underwhelmed by the proposal but Boeing persisted and tried to impress upon the aviation industry that they had made the right choice. I don't think at the time everyone thought the Dreamliner was the best answer to the A380.
Turned out it wasn't. The 777 is the real profit engine at Boeing, the Dreamliner may never earn back it's cost thought it will never be as bad an investment as the A380.
Apparently the Dreamliner is doing better than anticipated, for it has begun turning a profit[1]. With the A380 being developed, Boeing couldn't just stand arms crossed. They had to develop a response --and in this case develop new materials to achieve better fuel efficiency --the discoveries thereof can be reused in future frames.
That article is misleading, the Dreamliner is at least a decade away from true profitability, if it ever gets there. When Boeing announces it "turned" profitable, they are saying it now costs less to make each Dreamliner than they are selling for. But that is ignoring over $30B in development costs (plus interest) that it needs to earn back before it can ever generate a true economic profit.
"In the second quarter of 2015, Boeing lost $25 million on each 787 delivered but was planning to break-even per plane before the year end. After that Boeing hopes to build 900 Dreamliners over six years at an average profit of more than $35 million each. But with deferred costs peaking in 2016 at $33 billion, Leeham analyst Bjorn Fehrm considers Boeing can't make an overall profit on the program. Ted Piepenbrock, an academic affiliated with the MIT and the University of Oxford, projects losses decreasing through the first 700 airliners, forecast the cumulative deferred costs to peak beyond $34 billion and its model most favorable to Boeing projects a program loss of $5 billion after delivering 2,000 Dreamliners. Boeing’s original development investment, estimated at least at a further $20 billion, isn't included in these costs.[177]"
Thanks for the insight and clarification. This has to be one of the most difficult businesses to be in, given a poor choice can risk bankruptcy for the developer/manufacturer. If relative success means turning a profit 20 years hence, that's one hell of an industry to be in.
At the time the Dreamliner was being announced people were initially underwhelmed by the proposal but Boeing persisted and tried to impress upon the aviation industry that they had made the right choice. I don't think at the time everyone thought the Dreamliner was the best answer to the A380.