Boeing announced on Sunday it has started building its 787-9, a longer version of the 787 Dreamliner.
''Boeing started joining large sections of the jet (in Everett, Washington)," the company said in a statement.
The 787-9 can carry 250 - 290 passengers - 40 more than the 787-8, which started operating in September 2011 - across an additional 555km while using 20% less fuel than planes of the same size.
AAP reports its first flight should be made within months, with an initial delivery scheduled in early 2014 to Air New Zealand.
Twenty customers have ordered 355 787-9s, making up 40% of all 787 orders, the company said.
AAP reports Boeing is keen to show that it can keep deliveries on schedule after the Dreamliner came into service more than three years late and then developed battery problems.
US officials cleared the plane to fly in April following alterations to its lithium-ion batteries. The first Dreamliner resumed flights later that month.
