Boeing's 777-300ER and 787 Dreamliner are both twin-engine long-haul widebodies, so it's easy to assume they're near-rivals. They're not. One is a high-capacity hub-to-hub workhorse, the other a fuel-efficient route-opener — and the numbers show just how wide the gap is.

Start with size. The 777-300ER runs about 242 ft (73.9 m) long, beating even the stretched 787-10 (224 ft) and dwarfing the smallest 787-8 at 186 ft. Its wingspan stretches to roughly 212 ft versus the 787's 197 ft, and it stands taller at the gate too.

Capacity is where the difference really lands for passengers. A typical two-class 777-300ER seats 350-370 people, with dense layouts passing 400. Emirates, the type's biggest operator with 118 of them at Dubai, flies six different configurations holding anywhere from 324 to 421 passengers. The Dreamliners, by contrast, seat around 230-250 (787-8), 260-290 (787-9), and 300-330 (787-10).

Weight and power tell the same story. The 777-300ER can take off at roughly 775,000 lbs (351 tonnes) — over 200,000 lbs more than a 787-10 — and rides on six-wheel main landing gear. Its GE90-115B engines are the most powerful ever fitted to a commercial jet, each producing up to 115,000 lbs of thrust, with fans wider than a narrowbody fuselage. Dreamliners make do with Rolls-Royce Trent 1000s or GEnx engines in the 64,000-76,000 lb thrust range. The big Boeing also hauls far more cargo underneath, which matters on profitable long-haul routes.

Why the split? The 777-300ER was built to replace four-engine types like the 747-400 and A340 on routes where demand never dips. The 787 was designed to fly long distances economically even when the plane isn't full, letting airlines link secondary cities that couldn't support a jumbo.

For travellers, this affects your flight directly. Book a 777-300ER and you're likely on a busy trunk route — expect everything from Emirates' first-class suites to dense 10-abreast economy, depending on the airline. ANA flies the most Dreamliners (91), followed by United (88) and American (70), so 787s dominate point-to-point long-hauls like US transpacific and Europe-to-Asia secondary routes. The 787's lower cabin altitude and bigger windows make it a passenger favourite, while the 777-300ER offers sheer space and, at carriers like Emirates, a proper first-class cabin the Dreamliner rarely gets. Knowing which plane is on your route is a genuinely useful trick when picking a long-haul fare.

Story via Simple Flying.