First Nonstop Service Between the US and Taiwan to Be Launched by Delta

After a seven-year hiatus, Delta Air Lines is set to resume service to Taiwan this summer with its first nonstop route from the United States.

Subject to government approval, flights between Taipei Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) are scheduled to begin on June 6, 2024. Daily operations utilizing Airbus A330-900neo aircraft will take place.

The SkyTeam member, which formerly operated out of Honolulu and Portland, Oregon, served Taipei via Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT). However, after restructuring its operations in the capital of Japan, the airline removed Taiwan from its itinerary in May 2017.

As a result, the decision to launch a route from Seattle will be its first nonstop link between the United States and Taiwan. That “marks a significant stride in enhancing Seattle’s global connectivity,” according to Joan Wang, managing director of global sales for Delta in Seattle.

“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,” she adds.

In the past, Delta has provided year-round flights via NRT between October 2015 and October 2016 between Seattle and Taipei. Its reentry into the market falls in line with the airline’s 90th anniversary of providing service to Seattle, a history that begins with Northwest Airways’ founding in 1933. In June 1980, Delta started operating nonstop routes between Seattle and Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Portland.

Along with Auckland, Seoul Incheon, Shanghai Pudong, Sydney, Tahiti, and Tokyo Haneda, Taipei will be the carrier’s seventh overseas market in the Asia-Pacific area. Additionally, Taipei will make Delta the second American airline to operate nonstop flights between the United States and Taiwan, after United Airlines.

Currently, EVA Airways, a fellow Star Alliance member of Delta, uses Boeing 777-300ER and 787-10 aircraft to operate ten weekly flights between Seattle and Taipei, covering a distance of 6,061 miles (5,267 nm).