This idea was first floated about 8 or nine months ago and makes a lot of sense.
Boeing have 2 options to compensate customers still waiting for a 787.
Option 1 - Cash compensation
-Costs a hell of a lot
-Customer still needs capacity so spends Boeings compensation money buying a competitors product
-Customer has to employ staff and train them to operate competitors product
-Competitor has no equivalent product anyway, customer airline ends up with an aircraft either too large or small for its needs.
Option 2 - Give customer capacity with replacement aircraft
-Boeing produces a new aircraft an aircraft on its currently dormant production line, costs Boeing much less as they are only compensating the customer by the amount it costs to build the aircraft, not the sticker price.
-Customer gets capacity it needs without buying a competitors product
-Customer employs and trains staff, particularly tech crew on 767, when 787 arrives it is merely a 2 week conversion course
-When 787 is delivered, Boeing gets to take it back and either sell it or convert to freighter etc, thereby recouping much of what would otherwise have been a substantial cash payout