Aerlingus touting 787s..? Funny picture on todays Irish Times

[Irishwingz]

Probably not but this is comical...
The front page of today's Irish Times shows Aer Lingus CEO Dermot Mannion holding a model of an Aer Lingus airplane. The only thing is its a 787. The pic was taken at yesterday announcement of a new base at Belfast. I suspect somebody mistakenly took the Boeing model (as far as I know they wont be going back to Boeing) for the announcement. It must have got damaged on the way up from Dublin because one of the engines fell off at the press event! his face says it all as someone hands him the engine to put back on.:uhoh:
I wonder are they just putting the Airbus sales guys under pressure in the lead up to some announcements?
Aside from the comic element, its a shame they are cutting the SNN-LHR route. Lets hope someone (BA or MBI) might step in...

[flugholm]

The pic can currently be seen on http://www.ireland.com/ .

[bjones4]

That actually is the A350XWB, the wingtips are the give away,

The 'bent' tip of the A350 (http://www.airbus.com/store/photolibrary/AIRCRAFT/CUSTOMER/A350/att00008782/media_object_image_lowres_A350800_Yemenia_mr.jpg), compared to rake (http://boeingmedia.com/imageDetail.cfm?id=14931&KeyWord=787&BuId=0&caid=0&prid=0&sc=med&pn=2) of the 787-8/-9 which is much more inline with the curvature of the wing.

Your certainly not alone in mistaking the XWB for the 787 though, if it wasn't for formers ski-mask style flight-deck windows it would look almost identical from most angles.

[Just a spotter]

I think you'll find that's an A350XWB (minus one engine) ...

JAS