The first-ever direct commercial flight between Taiwan and Washington, DC took off from Taoyuan airport outside of Taipei on Friday morning, marking a new form of integration between the two countries, whose economic ties have been strengthened by the AI boom.
At a dinner on Wednesday celebrating the new route, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Green, the United States’ de facto ambassador, called it “an unprecedented milestone highlighting the growing connection between the United States and Taiwan.”
Taiwan recently passed Germany to become the U.S.’s fourth-largest trading partner, largely on the back of surging demands for semiconductors and other AI hardware manufactured in Taiwan. Earlier this month, the president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan called the current period “a golden age in economic relations.”
EVA Air, the Taiwanese airline operating the flight, already offers direct flights between Taoyuan and several other American cities including Chicago and Los Angeles. Planning for the long-anticipated DC connection began in 2024.
The route will be serviced by a Boeing 787-9 aircraft that seats 278, including 26 business class, 28 premium economy seats and 224 regular economy. The flights will operate four times per week.
The flight time is expected to usually run at 15 hours. But favorable wind conditions meant Friday’s flight would make it to Washington in roughly 13 hours, according to a cabin announcement prior to takeoff.
Sasha Chhabra, a Taiwan-based analyst who writes the Formosa Review newsletter on Substack and who took the flight on Friday, said the first-class and premium economy sections were full, but economy class was below capacity. Some passengers, he added, did not realize they were taking the inaugural flight.
Taiwan is home to three airlines servicing long-haul flights, an unusually large number for a country of just 24 million people. China Airlines, EVA’s primary domestic competitor, operates its own nonstop flights between Taiwan in the U.S., including routes connecting Taoyuan and San Francisco.
In a statement following the announcement of the new route earlier this year, Andew Su (蘇偉仁), executive vice president for EVA Air North America, said the flights would enhance Taipei’s “appeal as a world-class tourism destination.”
The new flight route comes a month after the maiden voyage of the first commercial ferry service between Taiwan and Japan to operate in more than a decade. Local officials also touted that route as evidence of growing cultural and economic integration.
Taiwan’s legislative speaker, Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), is expected to take the inaugural flight back to Taoyuan, scheduled to depart from Dulles International Airport at 7:30 p.m. local time on Friday evening. Han, a member of Taiwan’s main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party, or KMT, and former presidential candidate, has been leading a cross-party delegation to the United States this week.
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