Fruitless maybe, but interesting!
I know it's more than likely fruitless, but it is interesting to exchange thoughts on the old home team!
At the end of the day, this will come down to euros/dollars and cents and while we'll never know what the exact price each manufacturer's price is, I can't help thinking that I wasn't the only one to have thought, last Sunday, "good aircraft, glad they're finally making a move, but I WISH they had gone for the 787."? Okay, it's a gut feeling and they're generally not good news in aviation, but I still have this feeling - much as I'm sure that the 350 would do a grand job for EI if it were chosen - that the 787 is better.
If EK goes for 787s (and it now seems very likely that it will, if Boeing launches the -10 model), that will be the vast majority of "big hitters" going for the 787. It can't all be simply price; it was said at the time of the QF order that Airbus is sales led, but Boeing is engineering led, with the comment that "airlines that can't afford Boeings go for Airbus"; I don't think this is true in all cases (the A332 left its Boeing competitor, the 764, in the dust).
However, I think there is truth here; Airbus is at pains to promote the 350 as an all-new aircraft (if you look at the products listing on its site, it's A320, A330, A340, then "all new A350"!), but I think most carrier perceive it as a warmed over A330 and much as they may like it, particularly current A330 operators, it's still an aircraft for this decade, whereas the 787 is an aircraft for the next. If EI wants to choose an aircraft to last it for 10+ years down the road, surely that has to be a major factor.
Brian_Dromey, certainly good points on EK and EI, but I thought the govt (and its advisers) had ruled out a trade sale? Also, would the unions wear a deal with EK, which is a non-union airline? Would EK like the fact that EI is strongly unionised, in that the unions might perceive them as a cash rich company (which, arguably they are) that they could "bleed"?