The thing that makes the Dreamliner different ...
I think it's convention. The first was 707, then 727, 737, 747, 757, 767, 777, and now 787. I don't think there are commercial 707's in use anymore by large carriers.
Nope, although some military versions of the 707 were named 717 as well.
BTW, the Boeing 717 is now a rebranded McDonnell-Douglas MD-95 (Douglas Corporation DC-9 heritage), which actually has no parts in common, not even with prior MD-80s.
AirTran owns and runs over half of them, which is why when they need a part, they've gotta fly it in from their home base in Atlanta.
There just wasn't enough market for them, despite their outstanding reliability -- over 99.6% departure rate, highest of any current aircraft.
The 747 was the '60s, the 757 in the '80s, the 767 in the '90s.
The 757 is one of the best designs of all-time, outstanding fuel efficiency, "just the right size" and was the first, production 2 engine passenger jet allowed by the FAA to travel transatlantic -- production only recently ended in 2005 after over 20 years.
The 767 improved on the 767 in some areas, although it takes a few hits in others, but is still in production.
The 737 is still the Boeing mainstay, and is still being produced.
The 737-800/900 models are quite reliable, "just the right size" for domestic travel, etc...
One of the two reasons (the other is lack of seating assignments, I can get cheaper flights with seats pre-signed, sorry) I refuse to fly Southwest is their continued use of very old 737-200s -- ones going to drop from the sky one of these days (although it is a testament to the reliability of the model).
The thing that makes the 787 Dreamliner different are the composites, the first time they've ever been used on on an aircraft so large.
It's supposed to reduce the typical superstructure maintenance/overhaul from 7 years to 15.
It's also lighter, stronger and has other advantages, allowing a configuration of the 787 to travel to anywhere in the world, non-stop (~12,000+ miles).
Boeing was smart, and didn't just go after building the biggest aircraft, which AirBus did with the A380.
Not to take away from AirBus' crowning achievement, but Boeing listened to what airlines wanted.
And they wanted longer routes with a typical 300 personal capacity, reduced maintenance and improved performance.
Boeing forced a few things in return like limiting the options in engines to only two (2) and other parts commonality, but most of the airlines accepted the trade-off.
All-in-all, it's nice to see an American firm still know how to design with the customer in-mind.
Especially after Boeing was really taking a hit from AirBus 320/350 series sales for the last decade.
