EVA Air (BR, Taipei Taoyuan) has decided to stick with Boeing (BOE, Washington National) for its widebody fleet renewal plans Chairman Kuo Wei Chang has announced. Earlier this year, the Taiwanese carrier had stated it was evaluating several proposals from both the US manufacturer and rival Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) concerning its future fleeting options.
Outlining his airline's overall fleet renewal and expansion plans, Chang told the China Times that the airline is aiming to grow its fleet from the current 62, to just under 100 aircraft.
The first phase of the plan will see five B777-Fs replacing eight older B747-400(F)s while the second phase and third phases will entail orders for "at least" ten B787-10s and an undisclosed number of B777Xs respectively. Zhang has said in the past that EVA Air is participating in the design of the new B777X of which the B777-9 will be the most likely variant it will order.
Prior to this announcement, EVA has stated that it was also evaluating the A350-1000 and the A330neo - considered to be a less costly alternative to the B787-10.
Concerning its narrowbody fleet options, Chang said only that EVA is also evaluating a possible order of five A321neo jets which would supplement its current fleet of twelve A321ceo.
In January, EVA’s executive vice president of corporate planning Glenn Chai said the carrier was also studying the A320neo and the Boeing B737 MAX for its narrowbody needs though no definitive announcement has yet been made.
EVA's fleet currently stands at four MD-90s, two A318-100s (for VIP use), twelve A321-200s, eleven A330-200s, three A330-300s, three B747-400s, nineteen B777-300(ER)s, and eight B747-400(F)s.
EVA Air is reportedly considering merging with its wholly owned regional subsidiary Uni Air (B7, Taipei Sung Shan) which currently operates a fleet of two MD-90s and 12 ATR72-600s on domestic and regional services.
