EVA Air has just revealed plans to launch flights to its newest destination in North America as of the middle of 2026, and it’ll be among the carrier’s longest routes to date…
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EVA Air will start flying to Washington Dulles with 787s
As of July 2026, EVA Air intends to launch a new 4x weekly route between Taipei (TPE) and Washington Dulles (IAD). EVA Air will use a three-cabin Boeing 787-9 for the route, featuring 278 seats. This includes 26 business class seats, 28 premium economy seats, and 224 economy class seats.
Final preparations are still being made for this service to launch, so the flight isn’t yet on sale. As a result, the exact launch date and schedule haven’t yet been announced, though the airline states that that the schedule will be similar to the New York flight. The New York flight departs Taipei in the evening and also arrives in New York in the evening, before turning around in the middle of the night, and landing back in Taipei early the following morning.
At 7,864 miles, this will be among EVA Air’s longest flights. Technically, Houston (IAH) is EVA Air’s furthest destination, at 7,939 miles. However, the Washington Dulles flight will likely take longer, given that this route is more impacted by the closure of Russian airspace.
Personally I’m a huge fan of EVA Air’s business class, and rank it among the best in the world. While the hard product isn’t that great, EVA Air’s soft product is phenomenal, from the food, to the drinks, to the amenities, to the service.
How Washington Dulles fits into EVA Air’s route network
Washington Dulles will be EVA Air’s 10th destination in North America, complementing service to Chicago (ORD), Dallas (DFW), Houston (IAH), Los Angeles (LAX), New York (JFK), San Francisco (SFO), Seattle (SEA), Toronto (YYZ), and Vancouver (YVR).
So, what’s EVA Air’s motive for flying to Washington Dulles? According to an EVA Air executive:
- Washington has a lot of business demand in political, military, financial, and technological sectors, which should help with filling the flight
- Transit passengers from other destinations in Asia and beyond account for around 60% of EVA Air’s passengers on North America flights, and the Washington Dulles flight is expected to have a similar passenger mix
- Washington Dulles is a United Airlines hub, and both airlines are in Star Alliance, enabling connectivity within the United States and beyond
- There are currently 320,000 Asian residents in the Washington DC area, of which 14,000 are Taiwanese (14,000 isn’t exactly a high number for launching a long haul route, but…)
I think another thing to keep in mind is that Taiwanese aviation is incredibly competitive, because in addition to EVA Air, you have China Airlines and Starlux Airlines. So there’s a competitive desire to launch routes before other Taiwanese airlines, and I imagine that’s also at play here. EVA Air is best positioned for Washington flights, given its Star Alliance membership.
Bottom line
As of July 2026, EVA Air intends to launch a new 4x weekly flight between Taipei and Washington Dulles with a 787. The exact launch date and schedule are expected to be announced in the coming weeks. This will be EVA Air’s 10th destination in North America, and on top of that, EVA Air will be the first Taiwanese airline to fly to Washington Dulles.
What do you make of EVA Air launching Washington Dulles flights?
When there is a flight delay you can ask their customer service agents if Sum Ting Wong with plane? Lol
Most racist and profoundly inappropriate comment from Faron Key here
glad to see someone running IAD service from the area. i'll miss the CX HKG-IAD service but this is a solid alternative
Finally, a nonstop from DC to SE Asia again—welcome, EVA Air!
While Taiwan is still East Asia, it's certainly close!
This might actually get me in my car from PIT vs a sometimes excessive connection time in SFO that I've been doing... 3.5 hour drive vs. 5.5 hour flight + layover.
I hope this new EVA service provides a reasonable alternative for a trip to Beijing that I am in the very early stage of planning.
Once again Atlanta is overlooked by East Asian Carriers. Thanks Delta and Korean Air.
While I'm not sure of the business ties, but it does make sense to only have Korean as Atlanta does have a significant Korean population. The Vietnamese, Cambodian, and other Asian diaspora could simply hop on Korean and Delta and connect at ICN on their way down.
Eva has the choice of a star alliance partner and a government capital, of which their country is very active with our country right now. Plus - DC provides access to the entire Baltimore and Northern Virginia areas - a bigger population center than Atalanta.
It makes sense.
FWIW I've read musings of CI evaluating ATL. Seems at least a little bit synergistic given the SkyTeam FF base. Even if Delta won't sell the CI tickets, ATL based flyers are more likely to choose CI as a part of ST over a Star or OW flyer for options.
This makes me very happy.
I'm totes with you on this; CX never returned with their (very) short-lived HGK-IAD-HKG service after COVID, so it's nice to have a nonstop option from the DC area to SE Asia.
Welcome, EVA AIR!
Taiwan is not a part of SE Asia.
Do you mean one stop connecting options to SE Asian?
Me too, Maryland. More connectivity with Taiwan is a great thing, for DMV and anywhere. Like, I hope Starlux will make it to the East Coast as well; EVA and China Airlines already fly TPE-NYC.
I doubt there'll be much award space but more options to/from Dulles the better! From another Marylander
The DMV is a major metropolis for the Vietnamese along with a sprinkling of other Asian ethnicities, so they'll certainly capture a lot of that traffic; It's always good to have more options to Southeast Asia as flights from Incheon and Haneda with Korean and ANA respectively can take up to 5-6 hours on the way down.
Regarding the hard product, they could've installed the same upcoming Royal Laurel product from their refurbished 77Ws and/or...
The DMV is a major metropolis for the Vietnamese along with a sprinkling of other Asian ethnicities, so they'll certainly capture a lot of that traffic; It's always good to have more options to Southeast Asia as flights from Incheon and Haneda with Korean and ANA respectively can take up to 5-6 hours on the way down.
Regarding the hard product, they could've installed the same upcoming Royal Laurel product from their refurbished 77Ws and/or A35Ks. However it's a perfectly adequate seat on the 78X given their route profile. Similar to Starlux's A330neos.
I believe once the A350Ks are delivered, this route will move over to it.
IAD isn’t too competitive hard product-wise imo as a station. ANA doesn’t really use The Room, only the old 789 product, while RoomFX is happening, it’ll still take time. I think EVA’s 787 staggered seats are competitive enough, and will have new A350K product as well.
IAD will have to wait their turn as JFK along with ORD, DFW will most likely come first as it's more of a "thicker" and competitive route. While LAX is also completive, the former are much longer routes, so that's where the efficiency of the A35K comes in. LAX will do just fine with their upcoming product on the 77W.
The 789 should be sufficient for such a route. Not too big, but capable. They...
IAD will have to wait their turn as JFK along with ORD, DFW will most likely come first as it's more of a "thicker" and competitive route. While LAX is also completive, the former are much longer routes, so that's where the efficiency of the A35K comes in. LAX will do just fine with their upcoming product on the 77W.
The 789 should be sufficient for such a route. Not too big, but capable. They could always increase frequency rather than upgauge right away if demand warrants it.
And as the A35K will be a brand-new type for them along with using Rolls for the first time, they'll definitely be deployed on regional routes initially for crew familiarization. So it'll be a while from first delivery when they start stretching their legs.