It was back in July that EVA Air announced that it would fly its new Boeing 787-10 aircraft to Brisbane, Australia. Well that day has finally arrived. On October 9th, flight BR315 was a 787-10, touching down at Brisbane Airport just after 9 am. Up until this point, the route had been operated using an Airbus A330.

The Boeing 787-10 in Eva Air livery. Photo: Boeing

The first flight over

According to FlightRadar24, BR315 took off from EVA's hub in Taipei Taoyuan International Airport at 11:20 pm on October 8th. The overnight flight touched down in Brisbane the next morning at 9:07 am, 43 minutes ahead of schedule.

FlightRadar24 also reports that the aircraft had registration number B-17802. Information published by Airfleets shows that the plane is just three months old and is powered by GEnx engines. The plane is actually a lease from Air Lease Corporation, one of the ten largest aircraft leasing companies in the world.

BR315's flight path on October 8-9. Photo: FlightRadar24

Old vs. new

The 787-10 replaces the A330 on this route. According to Blue Swan Daily Eva’s A330 aircraft were configured in a two-cabin layout. The economy cabin is configured in a 2-4-2 layout and seated 228 passengers. The business class cabin on the A330-200 seats 24 passengers in a 2-2-2 layout using angled flat beds.

However, the 787-10's economy cabin will seat 316 passengers in a 3-3-3 layout. Economy passengers can expect their seat to recline to between 31 and 32 inches with adjustable headrests and memory foam cushion materials.

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Eva Air's 787-10 seatmap. Source: Eva Air

 

The 26 seat business class cabin on the 787-10 is configured in a 1-2-1 format and will all have direct aisle access and convert to fully lie flat beds. Australian Business Traveller reports that the seats are by BMW Dreamworks and designed to maximize space. Each business class seat is 23 inches wide and when in full lie-flat mode, 76 inches in length.

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The Boeing 787-10 might be a worthy opponent. Photo: Eva Air

EVA Air and the 787-10

The arrival of EVA Air's 787-10 in Brisbane took place just after the airline took delivery of another Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner on Monday. In fact, this is the 8th Boeing 787 for EVA Air and the fourth Boeing 787-10 for the carrier. Saudia Arabia's flag carrier, Saudia actually received its very first 787-10 at the end of September.

In total, EVA Air has placed orders for 24 Boeing 787s. According to FocusTaiwan, this is made up of four 787-9s and 20 787-10s. The four Boeing 787-9s have already been delivered. Now only 16 Boeing 787-10s have yet to be delivered. They are scheduled to be completed by 2022.

FocusTaiwan also reports that EVA Air will use its newest 787 variant to serve the city of Vancouver.  Commenting on the carrier's services to North America, EVA President Clay Sun says his airline has seen increasing demand. In fact, there are plans to increase flight frequency from Taipei to Chicago to seven from the current five per week. Furthermore, there will be an increase of flights to Seattle to 13 from 10 starting next year.

Conclusion

Have you flown on EVA Air's newest aircraft yet? Let us know what the experience was like by leaving a comment!