On May 6th, a brand-new Boeing 787-10 departed Boeing facilities in Charleston and made its way to Taipei, Taiwan as EVA Air's 8th 787-10 Dreamliner. The aircraft will look drastically different from all the other Dreamliners flying for the Taiwanese carrier, as it sports a special Star Alliance livery.

Aircraft and delivery flight details

EVA Air's 8th Boeing 787-10 is an airframe registered B-17812 with manufacturer's serial number (MSN) 63519 and Line Number 1142. The aircraft departed Charleston (CHS) on May 6th at 09:37 local time and headed in a northwest direction towards EVA Air's main base at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport (TPE). Designated as flight BR787, this ferry service saw the aircraft land at 13:45 local time on May 7th. The total duration of this flight was 16 hours and 8 minutes.

As per data from Aviation Flights, B-17812 saw a total of four test flights, accumulating nearly seven hours of test-flight-time in the process. The jet was first spotted in its special livery on October 15th, 2022, and had its first test flight on April 21st, 2023.

According to Planespotters.net, the addition of this latest aircraft means that EVA Air has a total of 12 787s, with 86 aircraft in total.

A different flight path

If the aircraft had taken the most direct routing, the distance covered would have been approximately 7,130 nautical miles (13,206 km). As we noted in the reporting of EVA Air's 7th 787-10, the lengthy delivery flight from Charleston to Taipei is outside the 787-10's published maximum range of 6,330nm (11,730 km). However, this ferry flight would have been made possible by an absence of passengers and cargo.

Photo: FlightRadar24.com

Comparing the delivery flight paths of this latest 787-10 to the flight before it, it's interesting to see that this flight crossed much more of Canada while also overflying Alaska. The EVA Air 787-10 delivery flight that preceded it crossed much more of the Pacific Ocean.

The April 13th-14th flight of B-17811 was much more indirect, as can be seen by the flight times. While the May 6th-7th delivery flight of B-17812 took a little over 16 hours, the delivery of B-17811 had a duration of 17 hours and 22 minutes.

The 3rd Star Alliance liveried jet for EVA Air

This special livery is the airline's 3rd Star Alliance livery as it joins the Airbus A321-200 registered B-16206 and the Boeing 777-300ER registered B-16715.

As we mentioned in a special feature piece on airline alliance liveries, November 2002 saw Star Alliance implement an alliance-wide standard livery. In a media statement, the organization stated that it had selected Korean carrier Asiana Airlines to become the first airline to "showcase an airplane with the new Star Alliance promotional aircraft livery."

While the oneworld alliance's standard livery allows aircraft to keep the aircraft's tail in the airline's own colors, Star Alliance and SkyTeam alliance liveries opt to have the tail of the aircraft display the alliance logo.

What do you think of this aircraft's livery? Share your thoughts by leaving a comment!

Sources: Planespotters.net, FlightRadar24.com, ch-aviation.com, Aviation Flights