Taiwan-based China Airlines has announced its intention to commence a new, non-stop route flying between Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan, and Seattle in the northwest United States. The new five-times weekly service to Seattle is expected to open up more travel options for those flying between the two countries and also boost trade and business links between the two cities in particular.
Seattle is known both for its economic diversity and for being home to tech startups. As one of the largest cities in Washington State and an essential portal for trade in the Pacific Northwest, the city’s business travel market boasts strong development potential, according to the carrier.
The new service is scheduled to commence on July 14, 2024, and will be operated by the carrier’s Airbus A350-900 fleet.
The new service will depart Taipei (TPE) every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. The 11-hour outbound flight (carrying flight number CI022) will depart from Taipei Taoyuan International Airport at 23:30, arriving in Seattle at 19:50 local time. The return flight (flight number CI021) will take off from Seattle at 01:40 local time, arriving back at Taipei at 05:05 the following morning. The return flight is expected to take around 13 hours. The route is 6,074 miles (or 9,718km) in length.
The flight arrival times have been carefully coordinated so that onward connection possibilities are maximized at both ends of the route, with transfers available at Seattle to most major US cities throughout the evening.
By commencing this new service, China Airlines is seeking to take advantage of strong demand for travel between the US and Taiwan, booming since the lifting of pandemic-related travel restrictions. Indeed, over 50 million passengers passed through Seattle Airport in 2023, making it the largest airport in Northwest US.
China Airlines has operated in the North American market for more than 50 years and currently flies to five major cities in the US and Canada, including Los Angeles (LAX), Ontario, California (ONT), San Francisco (SFO), New York (JFK), and Vancouver (YVR).
Interestingly, the scheduled non-stop service to Ontario was the first of its kind from Asia directly serving Silicon Valley and the tech industries that are clustered around that area of California. The airline refers to this as its “dual airport-one city configuration” and has up to three flights a day serving the Greater Los Angeles region, along with its daily services to Los Angeles International Airport.
With the introduction of the Seattle route in July 2024, China Airlines will have over 40 flights per week to North America.
According to ch-aviation, China Airlines operates a fleet of 15 A350-900s which each seat a total of 306 passengers across three cabins (32 in business class, 31 in premium economy, and 243 in economy class).