B787 at smaller airports
Yes, the B787 is indeed being held up as the Great White Hope for regional long-haul due to its lower seat-mile costs and runway field length requirements. A word of warning, however. The 787-8, with a wingspan of 60 metres falls into the ICAO Code E bracket for aerodrome characteristics. This means it requires taxiway strips / stands etc sized for the A330/B777 and not the B767/A300 which it will often be replacing in the UK. The 787-9, which follows it has a span of over 63 metres, into 747-400 territory. Without getting my scale ruler out I am not sure that some regional airports with long-haul aspirations will be able to meet Code E requirements across their taxiways and stands without a chunk of investment.