EVA Air launches maiden flight to Washington, D.C.

Taipei, June 26 (CNA) EVA Air launched its direct flight service to Washington, D.C., on Friday, becoming the first Taiwanese carrier to offer direct service to the United States capital.

EVA Air Flight 4 took off from Taoyuan International Airport at 10:53 a.m. after taxiing for 30 minutes and was scheduled to arrive at Dulles International Airport at 1:35 p.m. on Friday (U.S. time), according to the flight tracking website Flight Aware.

The direct service, which uses a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, will operate four times a week, leaving Taoyuan on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and leaving Washington on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, EVA Air said.

EVA Air said the first three flights to Washington are fully booked, and 90 percent of the seats available in July have already been booked.

At a ceremony Friday marking the launch of the new route, EVA Air Chairman Steve Lin (林寶水) said Washington is EVA Air's 10th passenger destination in North America, and it now operates 98 flights per week to the United States, the most among Taiwanese carriers.

Together with its airline partners, EVA Air's network covers more than 200 cities across the Americas, and it also allows North American travelers to connect to multiple major cities in Asia.

The ceremony was attended by American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene, Civil Aviation Administration Director-General Ho Shu-ping (何淑萍) and Taoyuan International Airport Corp. Chairman Yang Wei-fuu (楊偉甫).

Greene said that, with Washington Dulles International Airport joining EVA Air's network, travelers from Taiwan can now fly directly to 11 U.S. cities.

Taiwan was the 16th-largest source of visitors to the United States in the first quarter of 2026, he said.

Ho said more than 1.78 million passengers per month flew between Taiwan and the United States in the first quarter of 2026, an indication that the new route represents not only expanded air connectivity but also the deepening ties between the two countries.