the 787 was never meant to kill the 747! but the development of the 777-300 almost covers the range both distance and passenger wise with 2 engines than th 747 does with 4 engines, not only fuel wise, but its also LESS costly to maintain2 of the larger GE90's or Rolls Royce Trent 800's than it is to maintain 4 GE CF6…

There is so much redundancy built into aircraft that fly “EIGHT MILES HIGH” that even if all engines fail then they deploy the “RAT” (ram air turbine) to bring it back to the ground as was done on the 787 in testing when the electrical panels shorted out!