Starlux Airlines’ A350 First Class: What’s The Strategy?

Starlux Airlines is Taiwan’s newest global airline. In terms of service to the United States, the airline currently flies between Taipei (TPE) and Los Angeles (LAX), and plans to start flying to San Francisco (SFO) as of December 2023. The airline operates long haul service with its Airbus A350-900s, which feature a first class product.

Nowadays there aren’t many new airlines introducing an international first class product, so it’s cool to see Starlux Airlines offering this. However, the airline is taking an unconventional approach to this cabin, and I wonder if the strategy will stick. Now that the airline has been flying to the United States for several months, I wanted to take an updated look at this product.

Starlux Airlines’ modest A350 first class seat

Starlux offers special first & business class products on its Airbus A350-900s, which are primarily used for long haul flights (though also used on some intra-Asia flights). Starlux Airlines is the only airline in Taiwan to offer first class.

Starlux’s A350 first class cabin consists of just four seats, in a 1-2-1 configuration. Arguably it’s not even a separate cabin, as it’s simply the first row of business class, and there’s no curtain between first class and business class. The airline is known for incredible quality, so in that sense, many people were surprised that the airline didn’t go more over-the-top with its first class.

Based on the hard product, this also seems like some of the “business class plus” seats we’ve seen introduced in recent years, like the JetBlue Mint Studio, Virgin Atlantic Retreat Suite, Condor Prime Seat, etc. More than anything else, it efficiently utilizes the space at the bulkhead.

The seat has some useful features, like 60-inch doors and privacy partitions, 32-inch 4K screens with bluetooth audio, zero-gravity seat settings, and personal wardrobes for storing luggage. However, there’s no denying that the airline didn’t set out to create the world’s best first class hard product.

First and business class is exclusively between doors one and two, and the airline managed to fit 30 seats in this space (four first class seats and 26 business class seats). As a point of comparison, Qatar Airways’ A350-900s with reverse herringbone seats have just 24 seats in that space (though there is a little bar at the back of the cabin).

To be clear, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with introducing a first class product that’s incrementally better than business class, though you’d also hope that the price reflects that.

Starlux Airlines investing in first class service

Starlux Airlines is known for its great soft product in all cabins, and that also extends to first class on the A350:

• In Taipei, Starlux first class passengers receive chauffeur service to & from the airport (TPE), plus receive access to the Huan Yu VIP Terminal
• In Los Angeles, Starlux first class passengers are able to use PS, the private suite that offers chauffeur service to & from the plane, allowing you to skip the terminal altogether; if you’re traveling alone you have access to The Salon (a shared space), while if you’re traveling with someone, you have access to The Suite (a private space)
• Starlux has a great first class inflight service, with caviar, La Mer gifts, and more

Starlux is definitely investing in its first class soft product both in the air and on the ground. Whether that makes up for the lack of separation from business class remains to be seen, though.

Starlux Airlines first class pricing is steep

When we first saw Starlux Airlines’ first class product, many of us assumed it would come at a reasonable premium over business class, since it’s not even in a fully separate cabin. That didn’t turn out to be the case, though. Since flights went on sale, Starlux has maintained very steep first class pricing, at least triple the price of business class.

Admittedly lots of airlines have very high sticker prices for first class, but then there are ways to get a much better deal. However, most of those presumably don’t apply here:

• Starlux Airlines offers limited opportunities to redeem miles for first class; it’s bookable through Starlux COSMILE, but I can’t imagine many people have huge balances with the program
• While it could change, as of now fares aren’t considerably cheaper if connecting, as is often the case with other airlines
• I can’t imagine Starlux Airlines has many corporate contracts right off the bat that offer huge discounts to travelers, since this will be the carrier’s first long haul route
• Many airlines will sell buy-ups to first class, though I don’t believe the airline is offering these (someone correct me if I’m wrong)

At these fares, I can’t imagine Starlux will be able to consistently fill any substantial number of seats. Even with just four seats, you’re not going to regularly find people willing to pay these kinds of fares, in my opinion. Furthermore, while Taipei is an amazing city, it’s not Tokyo, Hong Kong, or Singapore, in terms of pricing power for tickets.

Is Starlux Airlines selling first class seats?

Now that Starlux Airlines has been flying to the United States for several months, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at how well the carrier’s first class is selling. How many first class seats has the airline sold over the next 21 days (for departures between September 18 and October 9)? As a reminder, there are a total of 84 seats for sale in each direction (four seats per flight across 21 flights):

• From Los Angeles to Taipei, the airlines has sold a total of four first class seats, representing a 5% load factor
• From Taipei to Los Angeles, the airline has sold a total of three first class seats, representing a 4% load factor

Admittedly some people book first class very last minute, but that’s… not a lot of seats to sell.

This product seems like it could be better monetized

It doesn’t seem like Starlux Airlines is having much luck so far selling its first class. Based on everything I’ve heard (and I look forward to experiencing it for myself soon), Starlux’s transpacific business class product is exceptional. But first class is priced more than three times as much, all while not even offering a fully separate cabin.

This cabin ultimately comes at a fairly limited opportunity cost, given that the airline has a total of 30 seats between doors one and two, consisting of first and business class. Other airlines fit the same number of business class seats into that space.

If Starlux wanted to maximize revenue, it seems like selling upgrades to first class would be the best way to do that. These transpacific flights are quite long, so say the airline tries to charge somewhere in the range of $1,000-1,500 to upgrade a business class ticket to first class, without the extra ground services. I’m sure that’s something that some people would take advantage of, and it certainly seems better than consistently letting those seats go out empty.

But best I can tell, it seems like the airline is trying to maintain “cabin integrity” so far, unless I’m missing something?

Bottom line

Several months ago, Starlux Airlines introduced its first class product, with the introduction of the Airbus A350s on transpacific flights. Starlux has an intimate first class cabin, with just four seats. Oddly it’s not even separated from business class, but is just the first row of the cabin.

While the hard product probably won’t blow anyone away, the soft product seems to be very good, both in the air and on the ground. Then again, the carrier’s business class inflight product seems to be very good as well.

It seems to me like Starlux is struggling to actually sell its first class seats, and I feel like the airline could pursue a better strategy to monetize the cabin.

What do you make of Starlux Airlines’ first class strategy?