Taiwan based airline EVA Air, one of the big players in asian air passenger and freight transport and a Star Alliance member, just placed an order with Boeing. The order will further modernise the carrier’s long haul fleet. EVA Air has in fact placed an order with Boeing for more 787s. Let’s find out more about which variants and how it’ll change its fleet.
About the EVA Air New Boeing 787 Order
Let’s get into the details of this new EVA Air Boeing 787 oder. The airline placed an order with the American aircraft manufacturing firm for 5 787-9 jets.
The 787-9 is the intermediate, in terms of size, of the Dreamliner lineup. However it is of the 3 variants available (8, 9 and 10) the one with the longest range.
With its tanks filled with fuel and in optimal conditions this plane’s range can exceed 14,000 km, or 7,500 nautical miles. This makes it ideal for EVA Air to operate on its ULR sectors towards Europe and the US, particularly to the east coast.
Although there is no certainty at the moment, it is likely that EVA Air will fit these jets with the same layout seen on other Boeing 787-9s. That would be a 2 class configuration with:
- 26 Business Class Seats
- 278 Economy Class Seats
This slightly economy heavy layout will probably make the plane’s range a little shorter than the maximum 14,000 km but will still be capable of serving ULR destinations.
How Will This Modify The EVA Long Range Fleet?
EVA Air’s already consists mainly of Boeing aircraft. At the moment, before taking into account these new planes ordered, the Star Alliance member flies:
- 34 Boeing 777-300
- 8 Boeing 777F (Freighter)
- 3 Airbus A330-200
- 9 Airbus A330-300
So as you can see this order will further strengthen the Boeing presence in the Taiwanese airline’s fleet. What is most significant is that the Boeing 787 is the only new generation jet in the EVA Air fleet and it will be for quite some time in the coming future.
The airline doesn’t have any orders placed with Boeing’s rival, Airbus, for the other new generation jetliner the A350. Therefore this further order of 787 jets is a clear commitment by EVA towards Boeing.
