Boeing's Next-Generation 787

Boeing Co. is getting closer to figuring out what the next version of its new 787 would look like, although it still hasn't decided for sure whether to build it.

The aircraft manufacturer has been delivering the base model of the new 787 for a year now. A slightly longer 787-9 is being built, and accounts for roughly 300 of the 800 orders Boeing has booked. The first one is expected to be delivered in early 2014.

But Boeing is also thinking about making a longer version, the 787-10. The plane would have two additional "donuts," or fuselage sections, says Ray Conner, who runs Boeing's commercial airplane division. Conner at a Morgan Stanley analyst conference, saying the main question is whether the bigger plane would need redesigned landing gear.