EVA Airways and Air New Zealand yesterday launched flights using Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
EVA used its first Boeing 787-9 aircraft, which was delivered on Oct. 4, on a flight to Hong Kong.
The aircraft was one of the Dreamliners the airline has leased from Los Angeles-based Air Lease Corp.
Photo: Chen Yi-chia, Taipei Times
It also leases three 787-9s and two 787-10s from the company, with the first of the 787-10s scheduled to arrive in the second quarter of next year, the airline said.
Its second leased Boeing 787-9 arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday, and would be used on flights to Tokyo and Osaka in Japan, as well as Hong Kong.
EVA Airways has already placed orders to purchase 18 of the 787-10s from Boeing Co.
Air New Zealand yesterday resumed flight service to and from Taiwan after it withdrew from the market in 2005.
Its first flight arrived in Taoyuan in the afternoon and departed last night to Auckland.
Singapore Airlines is also to start using Boeing 787-10 aircraft for flights departing from Taoyuan.
It received Boeing’s first 787-10 in March. Starting Jan. 1, one of the two daily flights between Taoyuan and Singapore will use the aircraft, the company said.
The airline set up a replica of the 787-10’s business and economy class cabins between the A9 and A11 buildings of Shinkong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) so people yesterday afternoon could experience sitting in one of cabins.
To celebrate the special occasion, the airline offered discounts on many of its international flights departing from Taoyuan.
Other international airlines used Boeing 787 Dreamliners on flights to and from Taiwan, including Japan Airlines, United Airlines, Air Canada and Scoot Tigerair.
The addition of Boeing 787s and other new aircraft to the nation’s civil aviation market, along with the government’s New Southbound Policy, have given the industry’s winter schedule a bit more variety this year, the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) said.
Airlines begin operating on their winter schedules on Sunday.
CAA statistics showed that the average weekly flights to the nations targeted by the New Southbound Policy between January and August increased by 11 percent over the same period last year, while the number of passengers rose by 13 percent.
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