Where is the potential market for Taiwanese carriers to launch new direct flight services in the US?

This study aims to identify potential direct route between Taiwan and the US by analysing the indirect traffic through other transit airports. Two composite indexes referred to as the Passenger Transfer Dependency Index (PTDI) and Passenger Transfer Dependency Degree (PTDD) are developed to analyze passengers’ transfer dependency on other hubs and the routes that they dependent. The research results indicate that transit traffic is mainly concentrated in HKG followed by NRT and ICN Airport. After the cost-benefit analysis, this research suggested that national carriers like China airlines (CI), EVA airways (BR) and STARLUX Airlines (JX) can launch or increase the number of flights to Los Angeles and New York, other destinations like Boston, Newark and Washington should be added to Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) service destinations. This research can help airports and airlines improve their aviation network. The results could help airports to identify their market position and from there encourage airlines to plan the development of new routes.