Taiwanese carrier Starlux Airlines has just placed an additional Airbus A350 order, with the goal of expanding long haul service in the coming years.
Continue reading: Starlux Airlines Orders More Airbus A350-1000s, For Long Haul Growth
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
India represents another significant growth potential market for them, when political/economic relations between India and Taiwan/Mainland China normalize.
Right now, there's not a single passenger flight between Taiwan and India, and if I'm not mistaken, the same goes for Mainland China and India. Hong Kong and Singapore are the main beneficiaries of that. Can't imagine Taiwan will want to stay out for long.
Direct flights between India and China are resuming this summer with China Eastern already having multiple Indian cities on schedule. The issue for Taiwan is demand will be one sided without some sort of visa relaxations for Indians, similar to Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, who all have some sort of visa free program or very simple e-visa programs for Indians. But overall yes, market potential is huge and Taiwan can benefit a lot from a huge influx of Indian tourists or transit pax (to North America)
I wonder when they'll start flying further east to JFK, Boston, Chicago, and possibly Dallas and/or Houston. Would London be in the cards as well?
With China Airlines and EVA also acquiring A35Ks, I'm looking forward to see what they come up with and how they operate them.
Not that I'm complaining, but any specific reason why LHR/CDG/FRA/AMS remain untouched by Starlux? Or even SYD/AKL?
Starlux seems to be doing well overall, they must have some corporate contracts w/ TSMC given not only the PHX route, but also the usage of the A330neo on a small market like KMJ because of the Kumamoto factories.
JX is also reportedly in the works w/ a Finnair partnership for Europe expansion.
As an aside, I hope Starlux gets some TSA slots to operate GMP or HND flights. They have the A330neo, which can work well with the TSA restrictions.
On another note, just had a JX flight the other day with a foreign (European) pilot. It's really quite interesting how they're choosing to expand.
SYD seems like a no brainer, especially since the demand on that route is high. But it seems Starlux is mostly focused on regional destinations and North America for now. Hopefully with more aircrafts they will start having a more diverse network
Another big factor in their expansion is joining Oneworld, which they've made no secret of intending to do. Having an influx of passengers from American and Alaska could really help Starlux on their Seattle and Phoenix routes, as well as making entry into places like NYC, Chicago, and (via other members) London, Madrid, and Sydney more successful.
The good part for them, is that Cathay (who has veto power on new entrants) has come out and said that they will abide by whatever the Oneworld board's selection process determines, in terms of new Asian members.
If I recall, the A330neo's wingspan won't fit TSAs gates hence China Airlines going with the 787.
https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1475463&hilit=tsa
The A321neos can if they decide to.
The bigger problem is the yields. Taiwanese airlines have actually flown to India in the past.
But the yields remain garbage in 2025.
Taiwanese airlines are able to succeed since they can command a fare premium within the US market and tier 1 Asia destinations.
Starlux has been working on a Finnair partnership, so the Oneworld membership makes a lot of sense.
That being said. Cathay runs a pretty good amount of traffic via TPE to Japan and has an outstation lounge there. I wonder what will happen there.
My apologizes. I was looking at Manila and mistook it for Mumbai for some reason…
Though I do know they India and China are planning to resume direct flights this year
Adding to Eve’s comment below, the demand between Taiwan and India, from what I’ve seen, is crazy. TG is one of the biggest airlines carrying passengers between India and TPE, and a few weeks back I flew a TG A320 from TPE to BKK absolutely crammed with Indian passengers. It’s amazing how BR/CI/JX refuse to look anywhere west of BKK in Asia, when there’s so much demand from the Indian market.
I was on the KMJ route last month, the entire business cabin had 2 pax. Economy was 20% full. There is no way they were making money on it, unless TSMC just buys 15 J seats per flight.
I am talking purely on immigration statistics. India is not even in top 10 both in terms of global and Asian passport holders who enter Taiwan for tourism. Even Germany, UK, Netherlands and France all exceed in entry into Taiwan every year, with the former two in twice the amount. You are looking at very specific points but my point still stands. Singapore had 1.1 million Indian tourist last year and Hong Kong had 380k, both have been growing year on year. Taiwan on the other hand has had a consistent 30-40k in Indian tourists for over 15 years.
The heavy requirements on visa is a hindrance for Indian visitors into Taiwan. The data is out there to prove it. And it is not like Indians are not interested to visit Taiwan, there are huge interest
I am certain with a more liberal visa program similar to the majority of what ASEAN countries offer, there will be very huge potential for this market. Until then, Indian tourists will always choose the easier options in the ASEAN region which offers more welcoming immigration rules. I hope ROC notes this in due time. They are leaving a huge market off the table and with many ASEAN countries opening their doors one by one to Indians, with Malaysia and Vietnam being the latest. It is pretty much a logical choice
That is a good comment - Taiwan needs to adjust how it thinks about the Indian market as India's economy continues to grow at 6-8% YoY. It is still a lower yielding market, but disposable incomes continue to grow. There is an upper-middle class that is as large as the middle class in most European and Asian countries due to India's sheer size - this group that is ~10-15% of India's pop. has demand for luxury goods and intl travel with disposable income on par with global standards even while the mass market is still quite poor.
It's why many SE Asian countries (Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines) are reducing visa restrictions and courting Indian tourists for growth. Taiwan would be smart to do the same - right now the awareness of Taiwan tourism in the Indian market is low and barriers to tourism remain high.
I recently flew STARLUX on NRT-TPE, and was shocked to see the plane basically empty in all classes. Given that JX has apparently deployed 40% of their capacity of Japan, this does make me wonder about the solvency of their operation overall.
flex Starlux earlier this year for the first time. my main takeaway was they do not use salt in their food -- every meal tasted like cardboard.
I flew Starlux A350 business class from LAX to Taipei then a A330-neo to Bangkok. The cabins were nice but the service was awkward. The planes were not full. I also wonder about their long term success. I don’t think I would use them again. On the way home I flew Delta from Seoul to Seattle in BC and even thought the cabin wasn’t as fancy the service was better. The flight was full also.
If things don't work out, I'm sure they (especially the founder) can make nice and assimilate back into the EVA fold 😉 Their A321neos as well as A350s would fit in nicely. I'm just not sure how their A330neos fit if at all.
The larger the Airbus the more people it’ll carry, then in case of an Accident the more people will Die!
In general, I'd say better to join with a winner than a loser.
Starlux is a net winner for oneworld, and CX recognizes that.
Y'all think about North American traffic... think what Starlux and CX can flow into Asia and Europe together.
It's funny you say that, I thought about this when I was waiting in the (empty) gate area at NRT.
Probably an anomaly. Taiwan's aviation authority publishes load factor statistics on a monthly basis and JX consistently has a >90% average load for this route month to month. You don't need to worry for them.
As Mike has mentioned, the A330neo is too wide for TSA, and because the other two airlines fly 787s, there is no way that the aviation authority is gonna award JX with any slots because the only planes they have that can fly out of TSA would be the A321s with limited seats.
It was probably a fluke. Taiwan's aviation authority publishes load factor statistics on a monthly basis and JX consistently has a >85% average load for this route month to month. You don't need to worry for them.
They have no rights to fly to any of the European airports you mentioned. Currently, only slots for Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, and Finland are available.
In terms of flights to Australia, Chang has said that they intend to "better utilize" the A330 for the Australian market, and Starlux execs have been spotted at Perth. Hopefully we will hear some good news soon once they take more deliveries of A330s.
Cathay cannot be a part of a (USA-style antitrust immune) joint venture, as the current Hong Kong - USA bilateral doesn't allow for it.
wow you are the first one to praise a US3 services over Starlux imo. Must be something very wrong on your Starlux flights
@DJT A f*cking stupid one.
The comments section on this site has become a septic tank and Ben seems unwilling to do anything about the repeat offenders. Sad, really.