EVA Air will launch the first-ever nonstop flight from Dulles Worldwide Airport (IAD) to Taiwan Taoyuan Worldwide Airport (TPE) this summer time.
Solar Chia-Ming, president of the Star Alliance provider, on Monday advised native press that EVA will start 4 weekly flights from Taipei to the Washington, D.C. space in July.
The brand new TPE-IAD route will function on an EVA Boeing 787-9 that options 26 lie-flat enterprise class, 28 premium economic system and 224 customary economic system seats.
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An EVA spokesperson didn’t instantly reply to a request to verify Chia-Ming’s feedback. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority that operates IAD additionally didn’t reply to a request for remark.
However way back to 2024, EVA advised TPG it had its eyes on Dulles as one in every of its future U.S. markets.
The brand new IAD flights come as air service between the U.S. and Taiwan booms. Since recovering to pre-pandemic ranges in 2023, seats available in the market have grown at a compound annual charge of 12.8%, schedule knowledge from aviation analytics agency Cirium exhibits. That’s greater than double the compound annual charge of progress for the whole decade of the 2010s.
The expansion is pushed by EVA and the one-upmanship (or, somewhat, two-upmanship) with opponents China Airways and Starlux Airways. Starlux entered the Taiwan-U.S. market in 2023 and has since grown to 5 locations, together with its newest addition Phoenix Sky Harbor Worldwide Airport (PHX) that begins Jan. 15. China Airways, to not be outdone, added PHX as a vacation spot late in 2025 in addition to Seattle-Tacoma Worldwide Airport (SEA) in 2024. And EVA landed at Dallas-Fort Price Worldwide Airport (DFW) in October.
The fast progress raises questions over the sustainability of a number of the new flights. For instance, SEA has 4 day by day flights to TPE throughout China Airways, Delta Air Traces, EVA and Starlux; that market was served by only one flight for the whole thing of the 2010s. Then again, the big investments by Taiwanese chip producer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Firm in Phoenix counsel there may be demand for a nonstop flight to TPE — however are two flights needed?
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Each China Airways and Starlux have indicated that much more U.S. nonstops are coming.
Whether or not or not the growth of U.S.-Taiwan flights is sustainable over the long run, it does create enticing offers for vacationers. Members of Alaska Airways Mileage Plan can e book flights on Starlux utilizing factors. And China Airways is a associate of the Delta SkyMiles loyalty program and EVA of United Airways MileagePlus.
The brand new route can also be excellent news for IAD. EVA would be the airport’s second new provider in 2026 after South Korean airline Air Premia that begins Seoul flights in April.
EVA’s new IAD flights can even join with United’s hub on the airport.
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