In November 2023, EVA Air revealed its intentions to order two kinds of new jets from Airbus, which is pretty exciting. There’s now an update, as this order has been finalized.
Continue reading: EVA Air Orders Airbus A350-1000s & A321neos
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
The A350 was a surprise because of the engine choice. I thought they had some sort of agreement or exclusivity rights with GE, no? First ever aircraft for them with Rolls? The neos weren't really surprising as the 321s are getting up in age.
It's essentially beyond debate at this point that the A350 has the potential for a more comfortable cabin as compared to the 787.
The A321ceos in EVA fleet are actually all leased - so EVA indeed do need to replace them in some way even though they're still relatively young. (They are intended as a short term fix to replace the MD90s introduced in mid-90s - A320neos and B737Max are on the horizon at that time.)
The fact that EVA has show no intention on continuing the lease of those A321s and returned a few to lessors tells that extending lease is not the preferred option. Enthusiasits in Taiwan has also been speculating who would succeed those narrowbodies in EVA fleet - though A321neos has always gained the upper hand. The delivery schedule of 2029-2032 do show how well A321neo is selling and it is rumoured that lease for 12 A321ceos will have to be extended to cover the time.
The A350s, slated to deliver between 2026 and 2030, are a bit suprising, but not so much since EVA early 77W indeed are reaching it's time and A350-1000 are the most logical option in the market at the moment - 777X are not showing signs of entry into service and 787-10 did not have the range.
What does this mean?
If you look at Carriers like AF or BA that use both aircraft, the seat widths are identical on both planes (AF is 17.3 a350 vs 17.2” on the 789; BA is identical)
You can find users of either plane that cram seats in like French Bee with the a350 or Jetstar with the 787 but in terms of “potential”, the a350 seems to be the plane with the potential to be less comfortable since I can’t find a ULCC 787 that has a 3-4-3 layout in economy but the a350 does allow it: French bee:
There may be a 787 operator that does that but I’m not sure who it is. Norse, JQ, and Scoot don’t on their 787s.
Obviously, network Carriers utilizing the a350 aren’t doing that but their seat widths are the same on carriers with both aircraft and the potential of a 3-4-3 layout seems to be exclusive to the a350
Both great planes though. Loved my FJ trip on the a350
“ I can’t wait to see what kind of a product EVA Air introduces on its A350s; the airline already has one of the world’s best business class products, and I imagine the new product will mark a significant improvement”
It will come with a (symbolic) door 😉
Strategic buy in the literal sense of the word. Thats all this was. Making massive business deals with Europe gives Europe a reason to take a greater interest in Taiwan's defense. Its creating economic allies. The more vested Europe becomes in Taiwan's economy the stronger Taiwan becomes. Only a buffoon would look at this from an airline hard product/soft product standpoint.
It doesn't matter really....
The same thing could be said if BR procured planes from Boeing.... "Taiwan needs to order American planes because of national strategic interests..."
I just flew to Taiwan and Thailand on BR B777's. They are worn out and beat up. They need to be upgraded one way or the other. The choice A-350 is interesting in that it does appear they are trying to keep up with Starlux, who's operating brand new A-350's.
Why is it that any time there's an 'X Airline chooses Airbus over Boeing', there'll always be someone like this who will find some ludicrous reason to somehow link it to geopolitical factors when there's absolutely nothing to prove that.
First with the Air France-KLM order, then with the JAL order. Now this one. Maybe its as simple as the fact that the A35K just suited their needs more over anything Boeing offered.
an A330-900neo order seems to make the most sense there, or perhaps EVA Air will just boost its Boeing 787 order eventually (China Airlines is replacing its regional A330s with 787s)
There's a reason for that:
The 787 fits within Taipei-Songshan's 60m wingspan limitation, and thus gives China Airlines the ability to operate regional widebodies from there as well, whereas the A330N does not.
For that reason, I'm betting EVA chooses (more) 787s as well.
Even if they do (which they probably will), it'll only be on a few aircraft, hardly the whole fleet.
I was waiting for your comment anxiously. But i expected a detailed one. You are right though. The Airbus A350-1000 is a very nice aircraft and it is getting orders. We should expect more orders at the Dubai Air Show next week.
Of all the reasons that could've led them to choose the A350, that's probably the least likely.
You're only thinking Economy though. In the classes that the airlines (through their actions) actually care about, First and Business, the A350 can indeed offer a (literally) wider breadth of options. We see this with the likes of Qatar, and even Lufthansa.
Wow. I didn’t expect EVA to get A350s. I would’ve thought they’d get the 777X given that they seem to be heading towards Boeing for their long haul fleet. I guess the A35K really is going to be the transpacific plane of the future. It seems like the big 3 Taiwanese airlines are in the process of collecting each other’s planes with CI getting 789s and A321neos and BR getting A35Ks and A321neos to replicate Starlux.
I hope it will. Airlines should do special things like that more often. Especially when you consider that the experience of air travel tends to have more negative connotations overall among the general public. Things like this would make flying feel more warm and friendly and less like “Blah Airlines”.
Well CI ordered 787s just a few months ago and people were commenting about how it was partly motivated by the need to strengthen the US’s alliance with Taiwan so this viewpoint about Europe and Taiwan doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
I sure hope so. I love the concept of the Hello Kitty partnership. It’s a great way to market the airline. At this point it’s kind of like what the Singapore Girls are to Singapore Airlines and Mickey Mouse is to Disney. Livening up the perception is especially critical for service based industries like air travel where companies tend to make “most hated” lists.
I don’t know about EVA Air but I know Korean Air doesn’t operate any aircraft with RR engines because they don’t have in-house maintenance facilities that work with it. This is why they don’t operate the A350. I wonder if it’s a similar situation with EVA Air. Their A321s have CFM engines (which GE has a stake in) and I expect their neos to have LEAP 1As to maintain commonality.
It’s very quickly gaining ground. Honestly I expected the 777X to be the dominant high capacity long haul plane for the next generation but that hasn’t really been the case. You look at all the 77Es still flying and you’d think there’s a good market for the 777-8 but it seems like airlines are content replacing them with 787s or A350s instead.
Kind of ironic. CEO ousts son from his airline due to a family feud, his son proceeds to start a competing airline, then gets the newest generation aircraft for said competing airline, then this provokes the father, realizing his airline’s fleet isn’t as modern, to try to compete with his son’s airline by ordering the same exact aircraft a couple years later.
This inhouse maintenance issue obviously does matter if the merger with Asiana goes through?
I don't think it is "exciting" - these jets will not feature some new or amazing configuration or products.
Interesting about the comments about Hello Kitty. Actually, if it was just the plane that was painted as Hello Kitty then this would be one thing but everything inside is Hello Kitty and it is a bit much.
So then don't ride it. Problem solved.
Quite frankly, it's a great idea on their behalf, as it generates significant publicity
expected the 777X to be the dominant high capacity long haul plane for the next generation
Why would you expect a rehash of extant model to dominate a clean-sheet design though?