Boeing retires final B787-testbed

On 18 February 2026, Boeing announced the retirement of its final Boeing B787-testbed. It marks the end of sixteen years of flying of the aircraft, supporting Boeing with the development of the Dreamliner and also with other innovations. The B787 is being retired as the costs of maintenance of it became too high to sustain.

The B787 involved is B787-8 N7874 (40693). On 11 February 2026, it conducted a final flight from Seattle-Boeing Field (WA) to Marana-Pinal Air Park (AZ) under callsign "Boeing 004" and got a proper send-off by the airport's fire brigade. At Marana, it will be still used by Boeing to "contribute to learning and development of the B787". However, the press-release also states parts will be used for training and research but also distributed as spares.

Below you can find a list of all the Dreamliners Boeing used as testbed/prototype over the years:

• B787-8 N787BA (40690), first flight 15 December 2009, and preserved in Nagoya in ANA-livery since 22 June 2015.
• B787-8 N787EX (40691), first flight 22 December 2009, and preserved in the Pima Air & Space Museum in ANA-livery since 26 March 2015.
• B787-8 N7874 (40693), first flight 24 February 2010, and parked at Marana-Pinal Air Park (AZ) since 11 February 2026.
• B787-8 N787BX (40692), first flight 14 March 2010, and preserved at Museum of Flight in Seattle (WA) since 8 November 2014.
• B787-8 N787FT (40694), first flight 16 June 2010, and scrapped at Everett-Paine (WA) in April 2018.
• B787-8 N787ZA (40695), first flight 4 October 2010, and currently in use by the Republic of Tajikistan as EY-001.
• B787-9 N789FT (41989), first flight 23 April 2013, and currently in service with Air New Zealand as ZK-NZD.
• B787-9 N789EX (41988), first flight 17 September 2013, and currently in use with Air New Zealand as ZK-NZC.
• B787-9 N789ZB (35422), first flight 19 November 2013, and currently flying with JAL as JA861J.
• B787-10 N528ZC (60256), first flight 31 March 2017, and today flying with Singapore Airlines as 9V-SCH.
• B787-10 N548ZC (40929), first flight 2 May 2017, and currently flying with United Airlines as N91007.
• B787-10 N565ZC (60257), first flight 8 June 2017, and now flying with Singapore Airlines as 9V-SCG.
• B787-10 N8290V (60293), first flight 11 March 2021, and now in service with TAAG as D2-TET.

Photo by Boeing.