US carrier Delta Air Lines has announced that it plans to launch direct daily flights between its Seattle hub and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in June next year, as the airline expands its Asia network.
“This strategic addition to Delta’s trans-Pacific portfolio is poised to make a profound impact on the Seattle market, fostering increased business and leisure travel opportunities for our discerning customers,” the US-based carrier said in a statement dated Thursday.
Pending government approval, Delta said it would deploy Airbus A330-900neo planes on the route, with the inaugural flight departing from Seattle on June 6 and Taoyuan the following day.
Photo courtesy of Delta Air Lines via CNA
The Taipei-Seattle route would mark Delta’s return to the Taiwanese market, following its cancelation of flights between Taoyuan airport and Narita International Airport in Tokyo in May 2017.
It would also make Delta the second US carrier to operate direct flights between Taiwan and the US after United Airlines, which operates two daily round-trip flights on its Taoyuan-San Francisco route.
Currently, the Taoyuan-Seattle route is only served by Taiwanese carrier EVA Airways with 10 weekly flights.
China Airlines’ Taipei branch office general manager Solomon Lee (李宜洲) on Friday said that the Taoyuan-based carrier is likely to resume services on the route next year, depending on the delivery of aircraft leased for long-haul flights.
Starlux Airlines, another Taiwanese international carrier, plans to launch passenger services on the Taoyuan-Seattle route in the third quarter of next year, company spokesperson Nieh Kuo-wei (聶國維) said.
Starlux previously announced its plan to expand services between Taiwan and the US, and the company would begin services on its second US route between Taoyuan and San Francisco on Saturday next week.
Delta has three direct trans-Pacific destinations — Incheon in South Korea, Naneda in Tokyo, Japan and Shanghai Pudong in China, it said in the statement.
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