I would be very surprised if MoL really meant airports with small runways like the ones you mentioned.
Instead I think he meant those 'smaller' airports outside the major cities which still have a 'long' runway and a fair amount of regional or continental traffic, but which do not have any intercontinental traffic due to less demand. I guess the 787 would just fit into those markets - leading away from the well established hub traffic for intercont, going to point-to-point intercontinental flights.