Maja Blumer, November 28, 2025
Chance for Switzerland becoming the first longhaul destination of EVA Air in Europe squandered away
As early as 1991, Switzerland was among the first European countries being offered the chance of a direct airlink to Taiwan. The Swiss Trade Minister Jean-Pascal Delamuraz briefly met his Taiwanese counterpart Vincent Siew at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in April 1991. In the same year, the Taiwanese carrier EVA Air officially offered to serve Swiss Airports, and this offer was brought to the attention of Swiss officials as well as other Swiss stakeholders again and again.
However, nobody took up this offer. Instead, Vienna became the first long-haul route of EVA Air. The inaugural flight landed at Wien-Schwechat Airport on November 12, 1991. Soon, Frankfurt (1993), Paris (1993), London (1993) as well as Rome (1995) followed, those destinations being served by China Airlines and its subsidiary Mandarin Airlines, EVA Air, and the respectiv local carriers.
In 1993, the representative of the Délégation culturelle et économique de Taipei, République de Chine, brought to the attention of State Secretary Kellenberger, that EVA Air was still interested in serving Geneva Airport. If there ever was an answer to this generous offer, it was not disclosed.
Finally, the Swiss Government woke up, and after years of seemingly fruitless talks between the Taiwanese and the Swiss side, the Swiss Federal Council decided to allow (semi-)direct flights between Taiwan and Switzerland, on September 26, 1994. According to the decision by the Federal Council, both the Taiwanese as well as the Swiss side are allowed to designate an airline to serve the flight route, with the flag carriers (Swissair and China Airlines) being excluded. The bilateral contractual basis was finalized in January 1995, with Swissair Asia AG and the Taipei Airlines Association serving as intermediaries. The inaugural flight of Swissair Asia from Zurich to Taipei via Bangkok took off on April 7, 1995.
Proven success of the direct flights between Taiwan and Switzerland from 1995 onwards
While Swissair faced numerous problems with its European subsidiaries1 and the chaotic opening and closing of short- and medium-range destinations2, the long-haul routes to East Asian destinations seem to have been a great success and became nearly as important as the transatlantic routes. Booking hovered around 80% of the seat capacity, while planes to European destinations remained half-empty.
Switzerland’s trade relations with Taiwan flourished. Until the end of the century, Swiss exports to Taiwan tripled as compared to 1988. The exports grew much faster compared to its peers South Korea and Mainland China, and also much faster than in the legacy markets Hong Kong and Japan. When the Asian Crisis hit South Korea and Hong Kong heavily, exports to Taiwan still continued to soar.
Switzerland became a favourite with Taiwanese tour groups. Between 1990 and 1999 the number of Taiwanese tourists in Switzerland had doubled.
Unlike neighboring countries, which have not only maintained their direct flight connections for more than 30 years, but have also expanded the air services with Taiwan, Switzerland was unable to follow up. When Swissair was grounded in 2001, its subsidiary Swissair Asia was levelled as well. On September 4, 2003 it was decided to liquidate the company, one of the planes serving the route from Zurich to Taipei, an MD-11 affectionately called «Whisky Golf» by frequent travellers, was last seen in 2005 on its way to be repainted to serve as a UPS cargo plane.
Nobody in Switzerland seems to have given a thought to rescuing the flight connection between Taiwan and Switzerland or asking Taiwanese airlines for help. Michael Eggenschwiler who had drafted the contract stipulating the reciprocal rights of Swiss and Taiwanese carriers to deliver air services in the respective markets and who had served on the board of directors of Swissair Asia AG moved to Hamburg where he not only managed the Hamburg Airport but also became a honorary consul of Switzerland.
In the past 20 years or so, many European countries updated their air service agreements with Taiwan. Italy and Germany saw the introduction of new destinations: Milan and Munich, with both being served by EVA Air since 2022. While some destinations in Europe like Barcelona and Madrid, Brussels and Prague are currently just served through code sharing agreements, i.e. between Starlux Airlines and Etihad, this does not imply that direct flights cannot be established as well.
Hopes for the resurrection of direct flights between Taiwan and Switzerland
When the founder and chairman of Starlux Airlines, Chang Kuo-wei (張國煒), announced in October 2024, that Starlux would be opening “exclusive” new longhaul routes to Europe, friends of Taiwan in Switzerland, Swiss exporters, and other stakeholders got their hopes up. Would the flight connection between Switzerland be resurrected?
The first to react were the Taiwanese Association in Switzerland, which launched a petition to the Swiss Civil Aviation Authority, collecting 899 signatures in December 2024. To date, there is no anwer to this petition.
In March 2025, National Councillor Addor launched an interpellation, asking the Federal Council was aware of the fact that a Taiwanese airline had offered to (re-)introduce a direct flight connection to Switzerland in 2026, and if so, would the Federal Council facilitate such direct flight connection. The answer, which came in Mai 2025, was evasive, to put it mildly. The Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) were still “studying” the legal basis of such air connection3.
In Summer 2025, the President newly founded Swiss Taiwan Business Alliance (STBA) inquired with the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) to elaborate on those studies. To date, there was no answer.
On November 3, 2025, National Councillor Addor paid a visit to Deputy Foreign Minister François Wu on a private visit to Taiwan.
On November 26, 2025, the STBA invited various stakeholders from Swiss manufactoring, trade, banking, academia, airline businesses, tourism, Taiwanese expat community, the Délégation de Taïwan, République de Chine etc. to discuss the future of the air connection between Taiwan and Switzerland. The participants agreed on the necessity of reintroducing direct flights, but were unable to figure out, what the impediments might be that hinder the speedy re-establishing the flight connections.
Is there a legal problem? In particular regarding the (voluntary) disappearance of Swissair Asia AG as the organization in charge of designating the Swiss airline that may serve the route to Taipei? While the original air services agreement concluded in January 1995 the lawyers involved agree that some viable legal basis must have existed if Swissair Asia was allowed to provide its services in Taiwan. Furthermore, it was the Federal Council who is in charge of concluding air services agreement. There is no problem with delegating rights and obligations to Swissair Aisa. Claiming that Swissair Asia does not exist any more, because it voluntarily dissolved in 2003, sounds like a bad excuse.
Is it a problem of political economy insofar the Federal Council has other priorities, such as promoting closer ties with the People’s Republic of China? As of 2024, the number of passengers traveling to Hong Kong and Mainland China only reached 59% of the pre-Covid level, with the state-owned or subsidized airlines in the People’s Republic of China fares lingering far below the level of those in 2019. 2025 so far shows little improvement. Fewer passengers and lower fares do not add up. Half empty planes – so called ghost flights – shuttling back and forth between the People’s Republic of China just to keep the “slots” (landing rights) are highly inefficient and are unlikely to improve bilateral relations.
On the other hand, passengers flying from Switzerland to major airports in East Asia have either reached previous record levels in 2024 (Suvarnahbhumi Bangkok International International, Tokyo Narita, Taipei Chiang Kai Shek) or have even surpassed them (Manila Ninoy Aquino, Incheon International). Only Singapore Changi airport is lagging behind a bit. Some airports like Bangkok or Manila have reached maximum capacity, so it is helpful if there is some choice in destinations nearby to avoid congestion.
Statistics on tourism in Switzerland show the same picture. The number of Taiwanese tourists has basically reached its previous record high. The same goes for the tourists from other countries in East Asia, India etc. Only the number of tourists from China has approximately halved compared to its peak reached in 2015.
Is there a political problem, insofar the Swiss Federal Council has somehow reversed its decision of September 26, 1994 to establish direct flights between Taiwan and Switzerland? Switzerland’s Taiwan policy seems to be a bit loopsided, but it seems rather far-fetched that a Federal Councillor would be able to convince his collegues that it is in the best interest of the Swiss citizens to reject the offer of a Taiwanese airline to re-establish the flight connection. It is simply inconceivable, which reason might be given for such a decision.
Avoiding a National embarrassement
Political machinations and political bravado might be avoided, if the existing air service agreement, and its need amendments, would be treated as an apolitical, technical matter, that is mostly about dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. Like it has been done in Austria, Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Finland, etc., and like it has been done in December 1994 and January 1995 when the direct flight connection between Switzerland and Taiwan has been first implemented. And like it has been done in 1946, when Switzerland had to give up its unilateral rights from the unequal «Friendship Treaty» concluded with the Republik of China in 1918 (the reciprocal rights remain still in force – theoretically).
The 1995 agreement is either still viable or needs to be slightly changed. If the model for the contract used in 1995 seems to be outdated, newer versions used in neighboring countries like Germany and and Italy can be adapted. As Ms. Hallauer-Hess, the newly elected Swiss representative in the International Civil Aviation Organization righly stated4:
“Switzerland is a landlocked country whose economy depends on a performing aviation system.”
A performing aviation system is not measured by how many times a week I can fly to Heringsdorf or whether the air service agreement concluded with North Korea in 1995 is still up to standard. But rather by having reliable and efficient flights to destinations with a significant number of passengers. Connecting flights via Milano or Munich are neither reliable nor efficient. Our aviation system has denied us an efficient connection to one of the most important airports of the world by an airline that boasts the most fuel efficient planes for the past 25 years.
Grounding our National airline is rather embarrassing. But being unable to uphold our contractual committments we have entered merely 30 years ago, is rather more embarrassing. Holding an election campaign at ICAO boasting our ability to promoting mutual understanding through dialogue and our science-based approaches to strenghten aviation’s resilience is most embarassing, if we are unable to live up to those claims.
Others are living up to their promises – let’s do the same!
Starlux and its Chairman Chang Kuo-wei will likely live up to their promise, to offer exclusive direct flights to Europe in 2026. Airbus lived up to its promise, to build a fabulous A350-1000 for Starlux, designated for long-haul flights. It has had its fifth test flight on November 25, 2025, which was also the customer acceptance flight. This means, the delivery flight will take place within the next few days. This also means, that the plane will be ready for deployment for long-distance flights within a few months. It might be deployed to Switzerland – if the Swiss government keeps it’s legal obligations to let the Taiwanese side decide which airline may serve the flight connection between Taiwan and Switzerland.
The same is true for the brand A350-900 «Wanderlust» which joined the fleet of Swiss International Airlines AG in October und is currently deployed to Boston. It might be the ideal plane to serve in Taiwan and other East Asian markets where Swiss faces the competition of luxury airlines such as Starlux – if the Swiss government keeps its legal obligations towards Taiwan so the Swiss side has reciprocal rights to designate a Swiss airline.
If the Swiss government does not register the importance of the flight connection for a third time – by ignoring the offer of EVA Air in 1991 and 1993, by grounding Swissair Asia in 2001 and 2003, respectively, and by neglecting the offer made by a Taiwanese airline in 2004 and 2005, to resurrect the flight connection – it is unlikely Switzerland will be given another chance.
An old rule in flying says:
“Landing is mandatory, takeoff is optional.”
Likewise, it is important to carefully terminate the contract according to the provisions made in 1995, when it was concluded. That is, if it does not serve its purpose any more. This leaves the option to negotiate a new contract. Claiming a contract does not exist, because the Federal Council or its legal advisors at the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) or whoever else does not like it any more for whatever reason, is like a plane falling apart in mid-air because of bad maintenance.
- I.e., Air Littoral, Sabena, etc. ↩︎
- I.e. Bamako (Mali), Dakar (Senegal), Banjul (Gambia), Tripoli and Benghazi (Libya), etc. ↩︎
- Maybe there were other priorities in May. In particular, it was announced that Ms. Helena Hallauer-Hess, who had served at the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) in Switzerland for more than 20 years, among other things as Chief Negotiator for Air Service Agreements for Switzerland, would be a candidate for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Council, on behalf of the Abis rotation group. The Abis rotation group in the ICAO consists of Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Ireland, Switzerland and Portugal, of which Austria and the Netherlands have long enjoyed direct flight connections to Taipei for decades, and Belgium will be at least served through code sharing, i.e. by Starlux and Etihad since September 15, 2025. Ms. Hallauer-Hess was successfully elected in September 2025. ↩︎
- Ms. Hallauer-Hess was successfully elected in September 2025, based on her alleged experience in “promoting mutual understanding through dialogue“, her willingness for “high-quality, data-driven and science-based approaches to strengthen aviation’s resilience”, and her understanding of Switzerland as “landlocked country whose economy depends on a performing aviation system“. ↩︎