According to industry sources, Boeing is close to closing on an order for more of its 787 Dreamliner jumbo jets from Qantas Airways.

The sources said that the order’s quantity is still unspecified, however it will increase the number of the high-tech Dreamliner aircraft in the fleet of Australia’s top airline. The order is expected to be announced as early as this month.

The sources cautioned that typically such deals will be negotiated until the last moment, and even then, the deal will not be final until it is officially approved by the board of the airline.

If it goes through, the purchase will be the first order of the 787-10 model for Qantas. The 787-10 is a slightly longer version of the 787-9 model, which, with its shorter range, is designed to compete against the Airbus A330.

Vanessa Hudson, the incoming Qantas CEO, said in June the airline was looking to replace its existing fleet of A330 jets by the end of the year.

Media requests for comment from Qantas, Boeing, and Airbus did not receive replies.

Considered among the most influential aircraft buyers, it was Qantas, whose shift toward a smaller version of the Boeing 787 in 2005 caused Airbus to review its wide-body-strategy.

After launching its “Project Sunrise” ultra-long haul program, in 2022, Qantas made a landmark order for twelve A350-1000s, the biggest European widebody jet capable of nonstop flights from Sydney to London and New York.

Sources now say the new Dreamliner deal will shift the balance back into Boeing’s favor, with the largest variant of the 787. The last Dreamliner order from Qantas was in 2018, when it purchased six jetliners to replace the last of its Boeing 747s. Currently the airline operates 14 787-9s.