Chang Kuo-wei (L), Chairman of Taiwan's Eva Air, receives a Boeing 787 model plane from John Wojick, Boeing president, in Taipei on November 24, 2015
© AFP Sam Yeh
Taipei (AFP) - Taiwan's EVA Airways signed a deal on Tuesday worth more than $6 billion for 26 Boeing jetliners, making it the island's biggest ever single commercial plane purchase.
The Taiwanese carrier will buy 18 787-10 Dreamliners -- Boeing's most recent model in its family of long-haul jets -- and two 777-300ER (extended-range) aircraft.
The agreement also gives EVA Airways the option to buy six more 787s.
The order is the largest ever single commercial airplane purchase in Taiwan aviation history, Boeing said in a statement Tuesday.
"With the 787 being the most technologically advanced airplane in the world today, (EVA is) certainly moving up on the innovation scale and revolutionising air travel once again in Taiwan," Boeing vice chairman Ray Conner said at the signing ceremony in Taipei.