Taiwan’s EVA Air will launch a new nonstop route to the U.S. East Coast this summer.
The airline’s general manager said service between Taipei and Washington Dulles will start in July. EVA will operate the route four times a week using a Boeing 787-9 aircraft.
The executive’s comments were first reported by Chinese-language news website ETToday. As of Monday morning, the new route had not been announced on the carrier’s website.
No airline in the world currently connects Taipei and Washington, D.C.
The service will be among EVA’s longest, at around 7,600 miles.
EVA officials said they selected Washington Dulles because of the relatively large Asian diaspora population in the Washington, D.C., area, and because Dulles is a hub of fellow Star Alliance member United.
EVA currently serves nine destinations in North America, including Los Angeles, Chicago O’Hare, Toronto, and New York-JFK. Flights between Taipei and Dallas/Fort Worth began in October.
Andrew Su, EVA’s North America Head Office executive vice president, told AirlineGeeks late last year that the carrier was looking at adding destinations on the East Coast, even as competitors China Airlines and Starlux zeroed in on Phoenix, Arizona.
