Taiwan’s Eva Air is ramping up its services to Brisbane, Australia. The Taipei-based Star Alliance member is swapping out its A330 for a factory-fresh 787-10 on the route. Eva Air is also increasing its flight frequency to daily over the busy Australian summer period. Over the quieter 2020 southern hemisphere autumn, the schedule will revert to five weekly services.

Routes Online is reporting that Eva Air will be bringing its 787-10 to Brisbane from 8th October 2019. Simple Flying has confirmed this with Eva Air. Throughout October and November, the service will run four times weekly. 

The daily service will commence from 1st December 2019 and run between then and the 31st January 2020. From 1st February 2020 through to 30 June 2020, the Thursday and Sunday flights will not operate. Services will revert back to daily from 1st July 2019 to accommodate the busy northern hemisphere holiday periods.

The current schedule will be slightly tweaked. The nine-hour flights cruise through the night. The flight from Brisbane to Taipei is especially handy for a full day’s work in the Taiwanese capital.

By 1st December 2019, the flight schedule will look like this;

Brisbane is the only Australian city Eva Air flies into. The airline has been gradually improving its service to Brisbane over the last few years.

Discussing Eva Air’s Brisbane services in 2018, Blue Swan Daily noted that 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 - not quite the done thing for a business class cabin in 2019.

The Eva Air 787-10

The 787-10 sees Eva Air bring its top-notch hard product into Brisbane. The airline only received its first 787-10 in June this year and has a total of 20 on order.

The 26 seat business class cabin on the 787-10 is configured in a 1-2-1 format. All seats 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.

And economy class passengers are not forgotten.

The economy cabin seats 316 passengers in a 3-3-3 layout. Rows 20 and 41 offer the most legroom. Economy passengers can expect their seat to recline to between 31 and 32 inches with adjustable headrests and memory foam cushion materials. There is on-demand audio and video on seatback touch screens

The bigger windows and increased cabin size will give economy passengers on the 787-10 more natural light and a greater sense of space than onboard the A330.

A lot of love for Brisbane

The arrival of the 787-10 into Brisbane is also a boost for the airport which is enjoying a good run of new services.

Last month Qantas announced its new 787-9 Dreamliner flights to Chicago and San Francisco from Brisbane. AirAsiaX also started flying into Brisbane from its Don Muang hub in Bangkok. And, Royal Brunei Airlines recommenced flights into Brisbane after an eight-year absence last week.

The Queensland capital in the state’s south-east has over three million people living within a 90-minute drive of the airport. More direct international flights in and out of Brisbane means avoiding the dreaded Sydney transit.

Eva Air business class passengers are directed to the Plaza Premium lounge in Brisbane. It’s a good lounge. However, the smart locals often head to the excellent Brisbane lounge operated by Star Alliance partner Air New Zealand

The introduction of the 787-10 on the Brisbane route and the upgrade of frequencies to daily over much of the year is good news for both Brisbane locals and incoming visitors.

It will be interesting to see what Eva air does next in Brisbane.