Eva Air 747-400 BDSF

Dramatic clouds greet this Eva Air 747-400 BDSF inbound at Seatac from O’Hare. An hour later, it will leave for Anchorage and, ultimately, Taipei Taoyuan. Registered B-16402 (msn: 27063), the aircraft was delivered new to EVA in the fall of 1992. It was converted, along with several more of Eva’s 744s, in late 2007 by IAI-Bedek. Like many operators, EVA has replaced many of its former main-line passenger 747-400s with the 777-300ER (77W).

EVA is now operating 15 777-300ERs with the last three delivered (after a very long delay due to the Koito seat debacle) at the tail end of 2010. Of the 16 747-400s in the fleet, three remain as passenger aircraft, four are combis, and the rest are a mixture of converted freighters and three new-build freighters. Curiously Seattle had been one city where EVA had switched over passenger operations to the 777-300ER but has strangely switched back to the 747-400 for these flights.

Photographer: Alex Kwanten