EVA Air will launch the first nonstop flight from Dulles International Airport (IAD) to Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) this summer.
EVA Air will begin four weekly flights from Taipei to Washington, D.C., in July, Star Alliance airline president Sun Jiaming told local media on Monday.
The new TPE-IAD route will be operated using the EVA Boeing 787-9, which has 26 lie-flat business class seats, 28 premium economy class seats and 224 standard economy class seats.
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An Evergreen spokesman did not immediately respond to a request to confirm Jiaming’s comments. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which operates the IAD, also did not respond to a request for comment.
But as early as 2024, EVA told TPG that it had identified Dulles as one of its future U.S. markets.
The new IAD flights come at a time when air services between the United States and Taiwan are booming. Flight data from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows the market has seen a compound annual growth rate of 12.8% in seats since returning to pre-pandemic levels in 2023. That’s more than double the compound annual growth rate for the entire decade of the 2010s.
This growth was driven by EVA Air and its lead (or rather lead airline) over rivals China Airlines and StarLux Airline. StarLux entered the Taiwan-US market in 2023 and has since grown to five destinations, including the latest addition, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), from January 15. Not to be outdone, China Airlines will add PHX as a destination in late 2025 and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) in 2024. EVA Air landed at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) in October.
Rapid growth has raised questions about the sustainability of some new flights. For example, SEA has four daily flights to TPE across China Airlines, Delta Air Lines, EVA Air and StarLux; throughout the 2010s, this market was served by just one flight. On the other hand, Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC’s huge investment in Phoenix shows there is demand for direct flights to TPE, but is two flights necessary?
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Both China Airlines and StarLux said more direct flights to the United States would arrive.
Regardless of whether the expansion of U.S.-Taiwan flights is sustainable in the long term, it does create attractive deals for travelers. Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan members can use points to book Starlux flights. China Airlines is a partner of Delta Air Lines’ SkyMiles loyalty program and an EVA partner of United Airlines’ MileagePlus.
The new route is also good news for IAD. EVA Air will become the second new airline to serve at the airport in 2026, following Korean airline Air Premia’s launch of flights to Seoul in April.
EVA Air’s new IAD flight will also connect to the airport’s United hub.
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