EVA Air aims to launch direct flights to Delhi at year-end

Washington, June 28 (CNA) EVA Air, one of Taiwan's leading international carriers, said Sunday that it aims to launch direct flights to Delhi, India, at the end of this year, tapping into demand for transit between South Asia and North American markets.

Speaking with reporters, EVA Air President Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明), who is currently in Washington, D.C., after the carrier launched direct flights to the U.S. capital Friday, said the company has filed an application to provide direct flights to Delhi and hopes the new service will start in early December.

According to Sun, Delhi is positioned well strategically as the city is able to link North America to South Asia. The carrier plans to target Indian software engineers who work in Silicon Valley with the upcoming new flight service.

EVA Air provides early morning direct services to several major U.S. cities from Taipei, in particular Los Angeles and Seattle, to allow passengers who fly from Delhi to make a transit from Taiwan to North America, Sun said.

Sun noted that he has faith EVA Air will be able to compete with Cathay Pacific Airways and Singapore Airlines in the North America-South Asia transit market after launching the service to India.

Since the launch of its direct flights to Los Angeles in 1992, Sun said, EVA Air currently flies to 10 direct flight destinations in North America, providing 98 round-trip flights every week, topping the combined flights of Taiwanese rivals China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines, which together operate about 70 flights a week.

The 10 North American destinations are Houston, Dallas, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto and Washington, D.C., according to EVA Air.

North America accounts for about 40 percent of EVA Air's passenger flight revenue and about 70 percent of its cargo services revenue came from North America, Sun said.

Taiwan has a population of only 23 million, so major local carriers have to expand transit services to grow, Sun contended.

Data compiled by Taoyuan International Airport Corp. showed it handled 5.32 million transit passengers in 2019, accounting for 10.7 percent of the total passengers in the year. The number of transit passengers increased to 6.69 million in 2025.

In the first five months of this year, the number of transit passengers in Taiwan stood at 3.29 million, up 51 percent from the same period in 2019, accounting for 15.2 percent of total passengers, the data indicated.

Sun also said that the AI boom has boosted demand for cargo services, with AI goods accounted for 40-50 percent of the airline's total cargo services revenue.

EVA Air remains optimistic about the cargo services market, and will raise its fleet of cargo aircraft by three to 12 in 2028 to expand cargo capacity, he added.