Taipei: EVA Air, one of Taiwan's leading international carriers, announced plans to launch direct flights to Delhi, India, by the end of this year. The airline aims to tap into the demand for transit between South Asia and North American markets.

According to Focus Taiwan, EVA Air President Sun Chia-ming, currently in Washington, D.C., revealed that the airline has filed an application to provide direct flights to Delhi, with hopes of commencing the new service in early December. Sun emphasized Delhi's strategic position as a link between North America and South Asia, highlighting plans to target Indian software engineers working in Silicon Valley with the upcoming flight service.

EVA Air offers early morning direct services from Taipei to major U.S. cities, including Los Angeles and Seattle, enabling passengers flying from Delhi to transit from Taiwan to North America. Sun expressed confidence in EVA Air's ability to compete with Cathay Pacific Airways and Singapore Airlines in the North America-South Asia transit market following the launch of the new service to India.

Since launching direct flights to Los Angeles in 1992, EVA Air now operates flights to 10 North American destinations, providing 98 round-trip flights weekly. This surpasses the combined flights of Taiwanese competitors China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines, which together operate about 70 flights a week. The North American destinations include Houston, Dallas, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Vancouver, Toronto, and Washington, D.C.

Sun stated that North America accounts for approximately 40 percent of EVA Air's passenger flight revenue, with about 70 percent of its cargo services revenue originating from the region. With Taiwan's population at 23 million, local carriers like EVA Air must expand transit services to achieve growth, Sun added.

Data from Taoyuan International Airport Corp. indicated that in 2019, the airport handled 5.32 million transit passengers, representing 10.7 percent of total passengers. This number increased to 6.69 million by 2025. In the first five months of this year, Taiwan saw 3.29 million transit passengers, a 51 percent increase from the same period in 2019, accounting for 15.2 percent of total passengers.

Sun also noted that the AI boom has driven demand for cargo services, with AI goods contributing 40-50 percent of the airline's total cargo services revenue. EVA Air remains optimistic about the cargo services market and plans to expand its fleet of cargo aircraft by three to a total of 12 by 2028 to increase cargo capacity.