Business class passengers can look forward to seeing Eva Air’s newest seat product on board its Taipei-Vancouver service starting early next year as the airline switches to its new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on the trans-Pacific route.
The Taiwanese carrier confirmed the change of aircraft after February 17, 2020 in a statement on its website, and its online schedule shows that the Dreamliner will take over from the current 777-300ER the following day.
The aircraft switch is good news for passengers travelling in the business class cabin, “Royal Laurel Class”, which features Eva Air’s all-new seat product (pictured above). The Dreamliner is the only aircraft in Eva Air’s fleet equipped with this latest seat design.
The seat was developed by manufacturer Designworks, part of the BMW Group, and is a forward-facing, fully flat seat that is laid out in a staggered 1-2-1 configuration – a change from the reverse-herringbone setup in its 777-300ER (pictured below).
The 787-9 Dreamliner’s business class cabin offers 26 seats with 23 inches of width and that are able to recline to form a 76-inch-long bed. They also offer an 18-inch HD touchscreen monitor, built-in storage cabinets, adjustable privacy panels, extra-large fold-out tables, and power and USB ports.
There is some bad news for travellers resulting from the change in aircraft, however. The Dreamliner is a smaller aircraft than the 777-300ER it is replacing, and notably it only features two classes of travel compared to the latter’s three.
This means premium economy will no longer be available on the Vancouver route from February next year.
Eva Air has already begun allowing affected passengers who have booked or redeemed premium economy tickets before May 3, 2019 for travel on or after February 17, 2020 to be re-accommodated on alternative flights to Seattle, Los Angeles or San Francisco, which will continue to offer premium economy seating. Eva Air is set to boost frequency on its Seattle service to 10 times per week later this month.
Alternatively, affected passengers can be rebooked on the same flight in either business or economy class, and pay or be reimbursed the difference, respectively.
