With all the above it is important to consider the flying the aircraft
actually does. It is true, that an "apples with apples" is nearly impossible, given the range limitations of the A330, it was never going the sectors Qantas appears to want to do with the B787.
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce yesterday told The West Australian flights from Perth to Berlin, Rome and Paris were the next nonstop routes on the airline’s radar.
Tickets on sale for first non-stop Perth to London flight
Looking at the cost curves above, I can be persuaded that the company always wanted to do predominately ULH style flying with the 787. There will be some scraps of <14 TOD & this appears to have been the "sweetner" used to convince pilots it was a good deal.
In a nutshell, many probably considered doing current A330 style flying at a higher rate as a good deal, the reality is that there won't be much, it will be more like the B747/A380. That is a better comparison, scaled for the size of the aircraft.