EVA Air Bids Farewell to Last Boeing 747-400 Combi

EVA Airways retired its last Boeing 747-400 Combi aircraft on Jan. 5. Photo from EVA Air
Taiwan's second-largest carrier EVA Airways Corporation (BR) bade farewell to its last Boeing 747-400 Combi aircraft, Registration B-16409, on Jan. 5, ending its 18-year operation in the airline, Taiwan media reported.
The Taiwan-based airline operated the final 747-400 Combi service on Taipei-Hong Kong route Monday, and held a grand farewell ceremony at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport (TPE).
The outbound flight BR867 took off from Taipei at 10:16 a.m. and arrived at Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) at 12:00 p.m., with the return flight BR868 departing HKG at 1:47 p.m. and landing at TPE at 3:25 p.m., according to VeryZhun, China's leading flight status provider.

EVA Air is one of the last airlines around the world operating the 747-400 Combi aircraft. It was designed for routes with minimal passenger traffic that could not justify a Boeing 747 in full passenger configuration, but had strong demand for freight services.
EVA Air had taken delivery of 10 747 Combi aircraft in total since May 1993. They were configured in a three-class configuration featuring 276 seats. In addition, the aircraft can transport up to fourteen LD-1 cargo containers with seven on the main deck and five in the lower hold. Since the four-engined Queen of the Skies that consumes too much fuel and requires too many passengers to fill, EVA Air decided to phase out the 747 for the twin-engined 777 aircraft gradually. The 777-300ER has proven to be the airplane of choice for most carriers seeking to improve operational efficiency.
The carrier planned the final 747-400 Combi service on January 4 and revised the date to January 5 later. The 747-400 cargo and passenger services will continue to operate although its official retirement of 747-400 Combi aircraft.
WCARN