Two TPE routes in the top 10? Interesting.

It's unclear if the presence of the TPE flights on the list is new. At least partly the numbers are driven by immigrant diaspora links. Lots more Taiwanese on the US West Coast...imagine the number may be higher for HK flights from Vancouver given more Hong Kongers there.

I don't know much much traffic other stuff like the chip industry really commands, or how much factors like the introduction of Starlux have played in.

I personally (which, I realize doesn't mean a whole lot) regard TPE, TYO, ICN, and HKG as functionally equivalent transit points (between the US and China because direct flights still cost a lot more), so seeing TPE's strength v the others surprised me.

YES, and that was true even in the 1980s when I first started flying. Perhaps even before that.

Obviously not. Just as one example that has been discussed ad nauseam around here, TPE to SEA vs HKG to SEA (or lack of for the latter).

The Seattle discussion has more to do with Seattle to Asia in general than TPE in particular. If BR, CI, JX, DL, PR, and soon AS hadn't scaled up there, there *might* be room for a HKG flight, but CX jumping into the current firestorm would be moronic.

Yes, but it's not just about transit point links. Immigrant diaspora links are just as important (or sometimes more so) in accounting for a particular route's popularity (as pointed out above). In this example, the large number of Taiwanese on US West Coast is one important factor driving demand between TPE and US West Coast.

and a superior product by the Taiwanese airlines.
which was not the case 10 years ago.
CX can't compete anymore.

We're talking about Seattle, not California.

And, there are more SE Asians than Taiwanese there.

What a joke! CX A350 fleets are vastly superior to CI and BR, not to mention their superior lounges.

I take your point. But your original point was being surprised about the popularity of TPE to Los Angeles & San Francisco. My point is that the immigrant diaspora links (large number of Taiwanese in West Coast - at least in CA) explains the popularity of those routes so there is no surprise. I don't have the statistics of Taiwanese in Seattle/WA state so won't argue there. I agree that with TPE - SEA, immigration diaspora links probably doesn't account for all the airlines plying that route.

In terms of CX traffic on SFO-HKG being half of what it was, I wonder how much of this is geopolitical (so-called "decoupling" between US & China)?

And lower Mainland demand https://crankyflier.com/2024/11/26/c...t-from-the-us/

tell that to the customers who are abandoning CX.

CX just released its december 2024 resultsresults
2.2 million.
The same size as CX in 2010
https://news.cathaypacific.com/catha...er-2010-171375

Which means in 14 years the net growth at CX is Zero....

No other major airline has grown zero% in 14 years.

A bit unfair when obviously they grew it substantially after 2010 and are growing again now.