EVA Air diversifies widebody fleet with A350-1000 order

UPDATE 1/9 – It was believed that Taiwan’s EVA Air was optimizing operational efficiency by adding more Boeing 787s to its fleet, but the airline will not have all eggs in one basket. Airbus said on January 9 that EVA has finalized an order for 18 Airbus A350-1000s and 15 A321neo’s that was first announced on November 7. 

EVA Air has relied on Boeing for much of its long-haul fleet requirements. The airline started operating the 777-300ER in June 2006 and has grown the fleet to 34 aircraft until September 2017. This makes it a mixed fleet of young aircraft that are around or past their mid-life. Three Airbus

A330-200s are even 18 years old, with nine A330-300s between eleven and six years old.

The carrier said in its 2022 annual report that it would optimize operational efficiency by growing the 787 fleet to 16 aircraft. It placed an order for 24 787-10s in 2015. EVA took delivery of four 787-9s in 2018 and 2019 on lease from ALC but has grown the Dreamliner fleet since by adding nine 787-10s to the fleet. Of these, two are leased from ALC, the other are owned. The most recent delivery happened in August. Boeing data shows that EVA has another nine -9s and four -10s in the backlog. The airline ordered five 787-9s in March.