EVA Air (BR, Taipei Taoyuan) has put its A330 fleet renewal plans on hold while it studies Airbus's latest offering - the A330neo. EVA’s executive vice president of corporate planning Glenn Chai told FlightGlobal last month that the emergence of the upgraded A330 had forced the Taiwanese carrier to reconsider its original plans, which had hinged on the B787-10.

"We want to see what’s going on. The B787-10’s price is high, it has advanced technology. The A330 performance is not bad, so we need more time to analyse and to make price comparisons. The A330neo’s price is pretty attractive,” he said.

The A330neo's performance and cost have struck a chord with Taiwanese carriers with fellow operator TransAsia Airways (Taipei Sung Shan) recently ordering four A330-800neo aircraft from Airbus with deliveries scheduled to start towards late 2018.

Chai went on to add that the Taiwanese carrier is also studying the A320neo and the Boeing B737 MAX for its narrowbody needs while the B777X and the A350-1000 are contenders for its widebody requirements.

According to a report by Airline Route, EVA Air will terminate its B747-400(M) operations on January 5 with a last rotation from Taipei's Taoyuan airport to Hong Kong International.