Taiwan's Eva Airline Expands Its Reach
<B>Taiwan's Eva Airline Expands Its Reach</B>
By Maria Lenhart
Launched just more than a decade ago as Taiwan's first privately owned airline, Eva Air is continuing a pattern of steady growth with expanding codeshare operations in North America, new service to Japan and a $3 billion order for new long-range aircraft.
Eva, which already offers service to Taiwan from Honolulu, Los Angeles, Newark, San Francisco and Seattle, recently teamed up with Air Canada to inaugurate service between Taipei and Vancouver. With all flights offered on a codeshare basis between the two carriers, Eva and Air Canada each are offering three flights a week on the new route.
Air Canada's flights depart at 1:55 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, arriving in Taipei at 5:15 a.m. the next morning. On the return, the flights depart Taipei at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, arriving in Vancouver at 7:10 a.m. the same day. Air Canada's equipment on this route is a 284-seat Airbus A340.
On Eva, flights depart Vancouver at 2:10 a.m. on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, arriving in Taipei at 5:00 a.m. the next day. On the return, flights depart Taipei at 11:50 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, arriving in Vancouver at 7:40 p.m. the same day. The airline is serving the route with a 342-passenger Boeing B747-400.
According to K.W. Nieh, deputy senior vice president for Eva Air, the fact that both carriers have timed their flights to arrive in Taipei in the early morning makes it convenient for passengers to connect to other destinations or to have a full business day in Taipei.
In July, Eva Air extended an existing codeshare agreement with American Airlines to apply to all of the Taiwanese carrier's flights out of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. The codeshare enables Taipei-Los Angeles passengers to connect with Eva-coded American Airlines flights to Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami, New York and Washington, D.C.
On Taiwan-San Francisco flights, passengers can connect with American's Eva-coded flights to Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Forth Worth, Miami and New York. On Taiwan-Seattle service, the agreement applies to American's Eva-coded flights to Chicago and Dallas/Forth Worth.
While Eva currently has no plans to add more North American gateway destinations to its network, Nieh said the codeshare agreement with American means that the airline can establish a presence in new markets, such as the Midwest and Southeast.
"This enables us to extend our service to seven of the most popular destinations in the U.S.," Eva's Nieh said. "It also means greater flexibility and easier transit service for our passengers. They can check in for flights all the way to their final destination on their first stop at the airport counter."
A new agreement between Taiwan and Japan has paved the way for Eva to inaugurate service between Taipei and Tokyo, with twice weekly service starting in late August. The flights use MD-11 aircraft and fly into Tokyo's Haneda Airport. The airline now is creating new air/hotel packages to Tokyo, which Eva will use to market to business travelers.
While EVA already serves the Japanese cities of Osaka and Fukuoka, the new route is somewhat of a milestone for the airline.
"The addition of Tokyo as a destination is a major development toward EVA Air's continuing expansion in the Asia-Pacific region," he said.
With an eye on future growth, EVA placed a $3 billion order in June with Boeing Commercial Aircraft Group for seven new long-range passenger aircraft, three B777-200Xs and four B777-300Xs. Delivery for the aircraft is scheduled to begin in 2005.
With more powerful engines than on existing aircraft, the new generation of long-range aircraft will shorten flight time and extend capabilities for nonstop service, according to Nieh. For example, the B777-2000xs will have a range of 15,000 miles, which is enough to provide nonstop service between Taipei and New York.
EVA is the second Asian-based carrier to order the new aircraft. Japan Airlines placed an order for eight long-range B777-300s in March, with delivery to take place between 2004 and 2008. The airline plans to use them to replace its existing B747 aircraft.