The correct comparison for the Boeing 787 is not the A380 super-jumbo but the A350XWB. It's mostly a successor to the earlier A330, but with a more extensive us

The correct comparison for the Boeing 787 is not the A380 super-jumbo but the A350XWB. It's mostly a successor to the earlier A330, but with a more extensive use of composites, updated everything, and a slightly wider fuselage; it's about the same size as and designed for the same operational model as the 787, but because Airbus were wrong-footed by the market turn and over-focussed on the A380 it only flew relatively recently, giving the Boeing product time to build up a big market lead.