Delta Adds Seattle To Taipei Flight As Of 2024

By: Ben Schlappig

Updated: March 7, 2024
Published: December 7, 2023

97 comments

Delta Air Lines will be expanding service to Asia out of its Seattle hub, with an exciting new route.

In this post:

Delta returns to Taipei with new route out of Seattle

As of June 7, 2024, Delta will add a new daily, year-round flight between Seattle (SEA) and Taipei (TPE). The flight will operate with the following schedule:

DL69 Seattle to Taipei departing 11:15AM arriving 3:15PM (+1 day)
DL68 Taipei to Seattle departing 5:25PM arriving 2:05PM

The 6,074-mile flight is blocked at 13hr westbound and 11hr40min eastbound. Delta will use an Airbus A330-900neo for the route, featuring 281 seats. This includes 29 business class (Delta One) seats, 28 premium economy (Premium Select) seats, and 224 economy class (Main Cabin) seats.

Delta will fly the A330-900neo to Taipei

If you’re looking to redeem SkyMiles for this flight, award flights start at 1,800,000 miles in Delta One, or 360,000 miles in Main Cabin. Just kidding. I mean, I’m kidding in the sense that I didn’t actually check, but I’m probably not that far off!

This new route is a pretty significant addition. Delta has never flown nonstop from the United States to Taipei. However, until 2017 the airline did operate a fifth freedom flight there, from Tokyo Narita.

Here’s how Delta’s Managing Director of Global Sales for Seattle describes this new route:

“This route not only opens new doors to Taipei’s captivating skyline, vibrant night markets, and rich cultural heritage, but it also marks a significant stride in enhancing Seattle’s global connectivity. 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.”

I have to give Delta executives credit for consistently putting out the loftiest quotes about new routes. This is a market that’s already well served (as I’ll talk about below), but Delta still claims this will make a “profound impact” on the market for “discerning customers” (because surely discerning customers wouldn’t want to fly with second rate airlines like EVA Air). 😉

This is an interesting route for Delta to add

Currently the only US airline flying to Taipei is United, which operates service out of San Francisco. So Delta will now be the second US airline to fly to Taiwan. The decision to launch a Seattle to Taipei route is an interesting one:

EVA Air operates Seattle to Taipei flights with 7-10x weekly frequencies; EVA Air is in Star Alliance, so has fairly limited connectivity in Seattle, aside from United flights
Starlux Airlines plans to launch a Seattle to Taipei route in 2024, and has a partnership with Alaska, so will have quite a bit of connectivity there
I wouldn’t necessarily assume this is related, but Alaska Airlines is hoping to acquire Hawaiian Airlines, which means the airline will resume flights to Asia, assuming this all gets approved

I’m not sure whether to be surprised by this route or not. On the one hand, Delta is well positioned for this route in terms of demand and connecting traffic. The airline has a big domestic network in Seattle to feed into this, and also partners with SkyTeam carrier China Airlines in Taipei, so will have connectivity there as well.

Delta hasn’t added much creative Asia service recently, and has almost been entirely focused on flights to Seoul Incheon, and feeding into Korean Air’s network, given the joint venture between the airlines.

So while Delta is well positioned in Seattle in terms of connectivity, the airline also has a significant cost disadvantage. Delta has a much higher cost structure than carriers like EVA Air. While Taipei is a market with a ton of demand, it’s not necessarily the highest yield market.

This seems to me like an offensive move intended to send a message to Starlux, and to generally fight against Alaska. I feel like Delta probably wouldn’t launch this route if it weren’t for competitive reasons. I’m curious to see how the market evolves, and if three airlines can coexist…

Starlux Airlines also plans to fly to Seattle

Bottom line

As of June 2024, Delta will launch a new daily nonstop flight between Seattle and Taipei using an Airbus A330-900neo. This will be the first time that Delta flies nonstop from the United States to Taipei, and it comes at an interesting time.

This is a market that’s already served by EVA Air, and it’s one that Starlux plans to launch soon as well. Can this route sustain three carriers? Only time will tell…

What do you make of Delta launching Taipei flights? Do you think Delta, EVA, and Starlux, can all succeed in the market?

More discussion »

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Cristhian Guest

October 27, 2024, 8:21 pm

Flight that is always delayed

‼ 0

Steve from Seattle Guest

March 12, 2024, 4:36 pm

As a DL 2 Million Miler based in Seattle, I am tired of reading that SEA is a failed DL hub. Those comments show a huge lack of understanding of Seartle and the Pacific Northwest in general. Years ago, when no passport was required to fly to Canada or Mexico from the US, most Americans didn't have passports. The Seattle area was an exception to that rule. People here have always loved to travel and that has only increased over time as more immigrants have moved here. Our relatively tiny footprint airport served 50.8 million passengers in 2023, just a million shy of its all time high in pre-pandemic 2019. I firmly believe that when DL, which previously had a cozy relationship with AS, decided to make SEA a hub, they thought they could either absorb AS or drive it out of business, thereby becoming the number one carrier here. It didn't work out that way but DL is solidly the #2 carrier here and #1 for international service. More importantly, DL's load factors in and out of SEA are high. If SEA isn't as profitable for them as fortress hubs where they face less competition, consider how much less they would make in the much more competitive hub of LAX. For consumers here, fares are still quite high, particularly as compared to SFO and LAX. About AS...yes, they are a quirky carrier but from here, they offer nonstop service to almost every major city in the USA. DL has a much larger network overall but not in terms of nonstop service. If I want to fly nonstop to Cleveland, New Orleans, Omaha, or any suburban airport in California, AS has me covered. DL? Not so much. About international service from SEA...this airport punches well above its weight class. DL faces competition from BA, LH (which has had Frankfort service for years and will soon add Munich), and a host of other carriers. Ditto for Asisn carriers, including Japan Airlines, ANA, Singapore, etc. About the geographic location of SEA...SEA is the closest major airport in the lower 48 to any point in East Asia. That matters in terms of fuel costs, flight times, etc. I can see feeder traffic from across the country working via Seattle for Asian routes. Flight times and distances to SEA are roughly the same as to LAX from much of the USA. I applaud DL for giving this a try. In the short term, I hope to take advantage of increased competition and/or introductory fares to visit Taiwan!

‼ 0

TWAviator Guest

December 11, 2023, 2:57 pm

I see a lot of comments on the “failure” status of Delta’s Seattle hub because it isn’t profitable. And while that may be the case, this is a NEW hub for Delta. It takes many years to build a hub, and a profitable one at that. Give them a chance before writing it off- if Delta does one thing well, they play the long game. They see potential, they want a new west coast hub to Asia, and they are on the offensive. I find it very interesting. And we get to watch two giants, Delta and Alaska, fight it out.

‼ 0

W Ho Guest

December 8, 2023, 11:05 pm

Be clear / write clearly - “ Alaska Airlines is hoping to acquire Hawaiian Airlines, which means the airline will resume flights to Asia” Alaska never flew to Asia, are you referring to Hawaiian? Did they ever fly to Asia?

‼ 0

Marcus Guest

December 8, 2023, 11:13 am

As someone who is not American, can someone please tell me why Seattle has so many international airlines, especially Asian ones, flying in and out of the city ? Does Seattle have a large Asian population and also some important industries ? Thank you in advance.

‼ 0