Starlux Airlines is about to take delivery of its first Airbus A350, and I can’t wait to learn more!
In this post:
Starlux Airlines’ Airbus A350 order
Starlux Airlines is a Taipei-based airline startup that launched service just before the pandemic, which obviously wasn’t great timing (especially with Taiwan having been locked down for over two years). Fortunately things are starting to look up, and Starlux Airlines is about to grow in an exciting way.
So far, Starlux Airlines has exclusively flown Airbus A321neos and Airbus A330-900neos, both of which will primarily be used for short and medium haul flights.
Starlux Airlines also has 18 Airbus A350-900s on order, which will be joining the carrier’s fleet shortly. While the airline had initially ordered a mix of A350-900s and A350-1000s, the airline streamlined the order to just include A350-900s.
Starlux executives are currently in Toulouse, France, performing final pre-delivery inspections. It’s expected that the jet will fly from Toulouse to Taipei on October 28, landing on October 29.
Below is a video covering some of Starlux Airlines’ pre-delivery formalities. The video prominently features Starlux Airlines CEO Chang Kuo-wei, who is the former Chairman of EVA Air, and also a pilot. He’s kind of a legend among avgeeks.
Below are some pictures of Starlux’s A350 ahead of delivery.
Starlux Airlines’ Airbus A350 route plans
What’s exciting about the Airbus A350 is that this is the plane that Starlux Airlines will use for long haul service. Starlux’s first long haul destination is expected to be Los Angeles, and the airline is planning on launching that service as of April 2023.
The airline has also filed with the US Department of Transportation requesting permission to launch flights to up to 15 destinations in North America, though it’s anyone’s guess how many of those materialize.
With Starlux Airlines soon launching long haul flights, it sure would be nice to see the airline establish some partnerships. You’d think that Starlux Airlines would be looking at joining one of the global alliances — oneworld seems like the obvious choice, since China Airlines belongs to SkyTeam and EVA Air belongs to Star Alliance.
Admittedly I have my own motivations here — I want to be able to redeem partner miles on Starlux Airlines. 😉
Starlux Airlines’ A350 configuration & cabins
Starlux Airlines is introducing new cabins on its Airbus A350-900s. Not only will the airline be debuting a first class product on the plane (the first in Taiwan), but the airline will also have privacy doors in first & business class.
Starlux Airlines’ A350s will feature a total of 306 seats, including:
- Four first class seats
- 26 business class seats
- 36 premium economy seats
- 240 economy class seats
See this post for everything you need to know about Starlux Airlines’ A350 interiors.
Bottom line
Starlux Airlines is about to take delivery of its first of 18 Airbus A350s, which will be the carrier’s long haul aircraft of choice. It’s expected that the plane will fly to Los Angeles as of April 2023. I’m sure I’m not alone in being curious to learn more about Starlux’s A350 interiors, including the new first and business class.
What do you make of Starlux Airlines’ A350?
For the San Francisco Bay Area, Starlux should fly to San Jose instead of San Francisco because most Taiwanese in the Bay Area don’t live near SFO. They manly live in the South Bay, East Bay, and generally communities south of the San Mateo Bridge, areas that are in SJC’s catchment area. It is to my understanding that the Chinese in communities north of the San Mateo Bridge (SF, Oakland, Daly City, Millbrae) are mostly...
For the San Francisco Bay Area, Starlux should fly to San Jose instead of San Francisco because most Taiwanese in the Bay Area don’t live near SFO. They manly live in the South Bay, East Bay, and generally communities south of the San Mateo Bridge, areas that are in SJC’s catchment area. It is to my understanding that the Chinese in communities north of the San Mateo Bridge (SF, Oakland, Daly City, Millbrae) are mostly Cantonese speakers with ties to the Hong Kong/Pearl River Delta area, which is perhaps why SFO-HKG was such a big route, much bigger than any of the SFO-Mainland China routes pre-COVID. Also, SFO-HKG was the second busiest international route out of SFO and I believe also the second busiest US-Asia route pair by number of passengers (after LAX-ICN) pre-COVID. Correct me if I’m wrong. It’s probably also why secondary China routes from SFO are lacking compared to LAX, JFK, and YVR and why Hainan decided to fly to SJC instead of SFO. I know because I live on the Peninsula.
"secondary China routes from SFO are lacking compared to LAX, JFK, and YVR"
Prior to the pandemic, SFO was connected to Qingdao, Wuhan, and Chengdu with Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai all having multiple frequencies. And United even tried to make Xi'an and Hangzhou work for a period of time. So I'd say SFO is fine on the secondary city front, even with the strong demand to HKG. I'll be excited to see what comes...
"secondary China routes from SFO are lacking compared to LAX, JFK, and YVR"
Prior to the pandemic, SFO was connected to Qingdao, Wuhan, and Chengdu with Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai all having multiple frequencies. And United even tried to make Xi'an and Hangzhou work for a period of time. So I'd say SFO is fine on the secondary city front, even with the strong demand to HKG. I'll be excited to see what comes out of SFO in a couple years as United gets creative with expansion.
Regarding Hainan flying to SJC vs SFO - Hainan started flying to SJC before China relaxed their "one airline, one route" policy (~2015?). They couldn't fly to SFO at the time even if they wanted to because Air China has operated the route for the last several decades, so they only had the option to fly to SJC.
Starlux should join Oneworld. The way things are going, they are going to be Cathay Pacific’s replacement.
I was about to send you a e-mail about this, but seems you have Starlux on your radar already. I’m really looking forward to what the cabin will look like, I’m very hyped about this airline. I will try to fly their A321N in December (they are opening the Galactic Lounge in Taipei the 6th of November). Btw, the jackets the pilot wears is so damn cool.
Looking forward to seeing the cabin config.
Please join OneWorld Starlux!!!!