The airline has said that the 787 is too small for its needs, but I can't help thinking that they are making a mistake. It seems that the plan is that the 359 will be the smallest acft in its fleet, once the 332s and 772s are disposed of. Now, with the order book that EK has, it needs to access new markets. Is the 359/773 the best aircraft to do this? It's still a 320-350 seater.
QR will have the 788 (as well as its narrowbody Airbuses); won't it have an advantage over EK in accessing markets where larger aircraft can't operate economically; QR can then develop these markets and add larger aircraft in its own time. Ultimately, in order to develop new markets, EK will need to force its way into new markets where the likes of EY and QR are already established. A 788/789 would allow them to compete more effectively and (as the 332 and the 310/AB6 before it) act as the entry level aircraft, then building it for the 77W and larger aircraft to enter the route.