Malaysia Airlines looks close to ordering around ten Boeing 787-10s, according to Bloomberg sources, ending a decade in which its long-haul fleet was entirely Airbus. The Dreamliners would replace the seven leased Airbus A350-900s the airline has flown since 2017 — jets it has long wanted rid of because of steep leasing costs.

Boeing apparently won the bidding contest on two fronts: earlier delivery slots starting in 2031, and a better engine offer from GE Aerospace, which competes with Rolls-Royce on the 787. The A350, by contrast, runs only on Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines, leaving Airbus with less room to manoeuvre on terms. Malaysia Airlines' CEO, Captain Nasaruddin Bakar, has already said a formal widebody order was targeted for the fourth quarter of this year.

For passengers, the switch is more interesting than a simple like-for-like swap. The 787-10 carries a similar count to the A350-900 (which seats 286 in MH's four-class layout) but typically fits slightly more seats in a three-class setup, so ten new aircraft would add genuine long-haul capacity — potentially new routes or extra frequencies to Europe and Australia. The trade-off is range: the 787-10 manages about 6,330 nautical miles against the A350's 8,600. That comfortably covers MH's existing long-haul map, but leaves less margin if the airline ever fancies ultra-long sectors.

Airbus isn't disappearing from the fleet, though. The airline has 40 A330-900s on firm order with only ten delivered so far, the first arriving in November 2024. And Boeing ties run deep: the 737 has flown with MH since 1969, the 747 and 777 served as its widebodies for decades, and the last Boeing widebody — a 777-200ER — left the fleet in 2016. The airline also ordered 30 737 MAX-family jets in early 2025 with options for 30 more, then agreed to buy 30 additional Boeing aircraft in August 2025 as part of a US-Malaysia trade deal on tariffs.

Why should a traveller care? New-generation aircraft usually mean better cabins, quieter cabins, mood lighting, lower humidity and bigger windows — and a 2031 delivery timeline gives MH a few years to plan its long-haul product. If you fly the Kuala Lumpur-London or Australia routes, the planes under you are set to change, and frequency could improve too. Watch this space: a signed order would be one of the more consequential Southeast Asian fleet decisions of the decade.