Eva Air buys 33 Airbus planes in deal valued at $10.1 billion

Eva Airways Corp. placed a major order with Airbus SE for the A350-1000 jet, extending this year’s successful run for the manufacturer’s largest widebody model as more carriers upgrade their fleets to manage longer routes. 

The carrier said in a Taiwan Stock Exchange statement that it plans to buy 18 A350-1000 planes, alongside 15 of the A321neo single-aisle aircraft. The total value of the deal is about $10.1 billion, though customers typically get steep discounts for big orders.

The A350-1000 planes are set to replace Eva Air’s existing Boeing 777-300ERs. The airline currently has 34 of those planes in its fleet, including a dozen that are almost 20 years old.

After a slow period during the Covid pandemic, Boeing Co. and Airbus are enjoying a banner year for fresh purchases. Jet orders since January currently stand at the highest since 2014, according to aviation data provider Cirium.

Eva Air President Sun Chia-ming said in November 2022 that the carrier is keen to shift toward larger widebodies from single-aisle jets as it eyes the retirement of its Airbus A330 planes by 2029. Those are being replaced by Boeing 787s. 

The airline has 87 aircraft in its fleet as of last month, mostly passenger jets and some freighters. Earlier this year, it added five 787 Dreamliners to its order backlog.

The Eva accord brings Airbus’s order book on the A350-1000 within striking distance of 100 aircraft for the year. The model is the larger variant of Airbus’s most advanced aircraft, and customers had previously favored the smaller -900 variant. By the end of September, Airbus had 39 orders for that model for 2023.