With a bulging order book for another 26 medium- and long-haul aircraft, EVA Air, Taiwan’s biggest carrier in terms of weekly ASKs (flag carrier China Airlines is bigger in terms of weekly seats), and the country’s first privately owned international, is poised to add two new European destinations – Barcelona and Milan Malpensa – as well as Chicago O’Hare and Washington Dulles to its hub operation at Taipei Taoyuan next year. In addition, the Star Alliance member, which was established in 1989, is expected to start services to Delhi in India and Cebu in the Philippines in the next 12 months.
EVA currently flies to the following points non-stop and one-stop in Europe:
Paris CDG – four times weekly 777-300;
Amsterdam (via BKK) – thrice-weekly 777-300;
London Heathrow (via BKK) – daily 777-300;
Vienna (via BKK) – four times weekly A330-200.
Given the fact that three out of four of EVA’s existing European routes fly via Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, it is highly likely that Barcelona and Milan will be flown, at least in an initial phase, on a one-stop basis. As Barcelona currently does not have a direct service to the Thai capital it may be keen for that stop to continue. However, at Malpensa the addition of this intermediate halt may well upset the current incumbent Thai Airways, which currently operates the city pair on a thrice-weekly basis with its 747-400 fleet. One slight negative for both suggested European airports is the fact that neither is a Star Alliance stronghold, with IAG/oneworld’s Vueling ruling the roost at Barcelona and Malpensa being dominated by SkyTeam’s Alitalia and easyJet, with the latter’s CEO Carolyn McCall recently telling anna.aero that feeding another carrier “would complicate our main strategy.”
New Asian connections for Spain and Italy
Both European airports do have some direct routes into Asia already (as indicated in the table below), as well as being well-served by the MEB3 (Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways) airlines.
EVA’s extensive Asian network will however give the populations of the Barcelona and Milan catchments the opportunity of new one-stop city pair opportunities, primarily in China and Japan (destinations already served direct from Milan in bold, destinations already served direct from Malpensa and Barcelona in bold and underlined).
China – Beijing (PEK); Chengdu (CTU); Guangzhou (CAN); Guilin (KWL); Harbin (HRB); Hangzhou (HGH); Hohhot (HET); Jinan (TNA); Shanghai Pudong (PVG); Taiyuan (TYN); Tianjin (TSN); Tunxi (TXN); Zhengzhou (CGO).
Japan – Asahikawa (AKJ); Fukuoka (FUK); Hakodate (HKD); Komatsu (KMQ); Osaka Kansai (KIX); Sapporo Chitose (CTS); Sendai (SDJ); Tokyo Narita (NRT).
Others – Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (BKK); Hong Kong (HKG); Denpasar (DPS); Hanoi (HAN); Ho Chi Minh City (SGN); Jakarta (CGK); Kuala Lumpur (KUL); Macau (MFM); Manila (MNL); Phnom Penh (PNH); Seoul Incheon (ICN); Singapore (SIN);Surabaya (SUB).
More US flying – up to 77 weekly frequencies
EVA currently flies to the following non-stop destinations in the US with a total of 53 weekly services, which is expected to be increased to 77 weekly frequencies by year-end 2016:
Los Angeles – thrice-daily 777-300;
San Francisco – double-daily 777-300 – up to thrice-daily by end-2016;
Seattle-Tacoma – daily 777-300;
New York JFK – daily 777-300 – up to double-daily by end-2016;
Houston Intercontinental – four times weekly – up to six times weekly by end-2016
Those of you who were good at math(s) at school will have noticed that the expanded schedule above only totals 69 and not 77. These remaining eight weekly frequencies are presumably to cover the new routes to Dulles and O’Hare – both at an introductory frequency of four times weekly. As both new city pairs are Star Alliance strongholds courtesy of their United Airlines hub status, the transfer traffic beyond Chicago and Washington is naturally expected to contribute to EVA’s forecasts.
Both US airports do again have several direct routes each into Asia already (as indicated in the table below), as well as being well-served by the MEB3 (Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways) airlines.
As with the new European points, EVA’s pan-Asian hub in Taoyuan will give the populations of the Chicago and Washington catchments the opportunity of new one-stop city pair opportunities, again primarily in China and Japan (destinations already served direct from Chicago in bold, destinations already served direct from Chicago and Washington in bold and underlined).
China – Beijing (PEK); Chengdu (CTU); Guangzhou (CAN); Guilin (KWL); Harbin (HRB); Hangzhou (HGH); Hohhot (HET); Jinan (TNA); Shanghai Pudong (PVG); Taiyuan (TYN); Tianjin (TSN); Tunxi (TXN); Zhengzhou (CGO).
Japan – Asahikawa (AKJ); Fukuoka (FUK); Hakodate (HKD); Komatsu (KMQ); Osaka Kansai (KIX); Sapporo Chitose (CTS); Sendai (SDJ); Tokyo Narita (NRT).
Others – Bangkok Suvarnabhumi (BKK); Hong Kong (HKG); Denpasar (DPS); Hanoi (HAN); Ho Chi Minh City (SGN); Jakarta (CGK); Kuala Lumpur (KUL); Macau (MFM); Manila (MNL); Phnom Penh (PNH); Seoul Incheon (ICN); Singapore (SIN); Surabaya (SUB).
In terms of the new Asian destinations of Delhi and Cebu, the former is served by China Airlines from Taoyuan on a thrice-weekly basis, whereas Cebu is not only unserved from Taipei, but the Philippine city is not currently directly connected to any airport in Taiwan on a scheduled basis. The Indian route will also give EVA the opportunity to link to another Star hub, that of Air India, whereas Cebu is unsurprisingly dominated by non-aligned Cebu Pacific Air (it has nearly twice as many seats as national carrier Philippine Airlines there), so any feed would have to come through local arrangements. Whatever happens, anna.aero’s data elves will ensure that you hear the news first, when any of these six new routes are formally announced.
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