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Re:

Boeing 787 vs. Airbus A350: Which Costs More?

Historical published figures put the A350-900 list price above an approximate 787-9 list value. The comparison is not a current purchase quote or operating-cost verdict.
From TheFinanceBase Team3 min to read
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On the available historical list-price examples, the Airbus A350-900 cost more on paper than the Boeing 787-9: Airbus listed the A350-900 at US$317.4 million in 2018, while Boeing’s 2019 list-price valuation for 30 787-9s works out to about US$293 million each. Those figures come from different years, and the Boeing per-aircraft figure is calculated from a rounded order total. They do not establish what an airline would pay today—or which aircraft costs less to operate.

What the published figures show

Aircraft and source Published figure What it means
Airbus A350-900, Airbus 2018 price list US$317.4 million Historical manufacturer list price. Airbus said prices depend on design weights, engine choice and selected customization. Airbus 2018 price list
Boeing 787-9, Boeing 2019 order announcement US$8.8 billion for 30 aircraft at list prices; approximately US$293 million each by division Boeing announced a rounded total valuation. The per-aircraft figure is an arithmetic estimate from that rounded amount, not an exact unit price stated by Boeing. Boeing’s 2019 announcement

Using these examples, the A350-900’s historical list price is roughly US$24 million higher than the implied 787-9 figure. That difference is indicative, not a current apples-to-apples quote: the source years differ, and one figure is derived from a rounded fleet-order valuation.

Why list price is not the airline’s purchase price

List price is a public reference figure; the amount an airline negotiates can reflect commercial terms that are not disclosed. For example, Lufthansa Group announced a US$12 billion list-price investment volume in 2018 for an order that included both 787-9s and A350-900s, but said the actual purchase price was not disclosed. That combined figure does not reveal either aircraft’s unit transaction price. Lufthansa Group’s order announcement

For an individual airline, the cost of acquiring an aircraft can also depend on configuration, design weights, engine choice and customization. The public examples therefore help answer which model had the higher cited historical list price, but they cannot establish what a buyer would pay in a current deal.

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Does the A350 cost more to operate?

The purchase figures do not answer that question. The cited material does not provide a neutral comparison of a named 787 and A350 variant flying the same route with comparable seating, payload and operating assumptions.

Airbus says the A350 family has lower operating cost per seat than other widebodies, and attributes a 25% reduction in fuel burn per seat versus previous-generation aircraft to lightweight composite materials, aerodynamic technologies and Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines. These are Airbus claims with the stated previous-generation baseline; they do not demonstrate that an A350 costs less to operate than a 787. Airbus A350 family Airbus annual reports

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A meaningful operating-cost comparison would need to specify the aircraft variants and account for seating layout, route length, passenger and cargo loads, fuel price, maintenance and engine-support contracts, utilization, airport charges and ownership or financing costs. Change those inputs and the cost per trip or seat can change as well.

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Which aircraft are being compared?

The 787 and A350 are aircraft families, not single configurations. The price examples above concern the 787-9 and A350-900 specifically; they should not be generalized to every model in either family. Airbus identifies the 787 and 777 families as A350 competitors, while the Netherlands Aerospace Centre’s 2024 report places the 787 in a small/medium twin-aisle category alongside the A330neo and the A350 in a large twin-aisle category alongside the 777X. Those categories provide context, not exact model-to-model transaction prices. Netherlands Aerospace Centre report, 2024 Airbus annual reports

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  • List price: A manufacturer’s public reference price, which may be historical.
  • Transaction price: The negotiated purchase terms, which may not be disclosed.
  • Ownership cost: The broader cost of acquiring and holding an aircraft, including financing, depreciation and residual value.
  • Operating cost: Costs such as fuel, maintenance, crew and airport charges, measured over a specified trip or per seat under stated assumptions.

These measures answer different questions. A list-price comparison is not a substitute for a negotiated purchase quote or a matched operating-cost analysis.

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Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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