The increase in flights to Sapporo will occur on the same day as EVA's launch of service to Sendai, which will start with two flights per week. With these expanded services plus an existing 14 flights to Tokyo and seven to Osaka and Fukuoka, EVA will be providing 36 scheduled trips between Taiwan and Japan every week.

"This level of frequency benefits growing tourism demand between Japan and Taiwan," said K.W. Nieh, Senior Vice President, EVA Air. "We spent years cultivating the Hokkaido market and now, Sapporo is very desirable leisure destination for Taiwanese travelers. Adding heft to our commitment to this market, recent trends indicate a promising future for products designed to appeal to Japanese tourists taking holidays in Taiwan." EVA is using a Boeing B767-200 aircraft with 12 Business and 200 Economy Class seats on its route between Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport in Taipei and the Chitosei Airport near Sapporo. EVA flight BR116 will depart Taipei every day of the week except Tuesday at 10:10 a.m. (10:10) and arrive Sapporo at 3:00 p.m. (15:00). Return flight BR115 will depart Sapporo at 4:00 p.m. (16:00) and arrive back in Taipei at 7:05 p.m. (19:05). Flight-time one way is around four hours.EVA began chartered service to Sapporo in 1995, and transformed it into regularly scheduled charters with 160 flights a year in Sept. 2000. The airline’s regular service paved the way for growing numbers of Japanese travelers to fly to Taiwan. Over the past year, approximately 5,000 people or 20 percent of EVA’s passengers on this route were Japanese tourists headed for Taiwan. A scenic destinations with four spectacular seasons, Hokkaido offers views and activities that change with the time of year. EVA is working with tour operators and travel agents now to design special Sapporo packages. EVA serves one of the airline industry’s most extensive networks within Asia, and links a worldwide system of major business and leisure destinations on four continents and in Oceania.