It looks like Starlux Airlines is planning on launching flights to Los Angeles as of early 2023, so we (hopefully) don’t have to wait that much longer before learning more details about this exciting service.
In this post:
Starlux Airlines launching USA flights in early 2023
Taipei-based Starlux Airlines is still a relatively new airline, but has big expansion plans. The airline currently flies A321neos and A330-900neos, and will also soon start taking delivery of A350-900s and A350-1000s.
Starlux Airlines eventually plans to fly to several cities in the United States, and the intent all along has been for Los Angeles (LAX) to be the first. While Starlux had initially planned to launch flights to Los Angeles as of June 2022, that has been pushed back due to aircraft deliveries and the pandemic.
It looks like Starlux Airlines is moving forward with its plans to serve the United States, as the airline has posted to Facebook looking to hire for positions there, including for passenger sales, customer service, finance, HR, cargo, and more. The hiring is happening for an anticipated early 2023 service launch.
Starlux has already received permission from the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) to launch flights to the United States, so that’s a major hurdle the airline has overcome. The airline potentially plans to offer service to up to 15 cities in the United States over time, though only time will tell how many of those airports Starlux actually serves.
What we know about Starlux Airlines’ A350s
Starlux Airlines plans to fly to the United States with A350s, including both the -900 and -1000 models. Starlux’s short haul business class product is phenomenal, so I can’t wait to see what kind of a premium cabin product the airline offers on long haul flights.
What we do know is that:
- Starlux intends to offer first class on A350s
- At least according to regulatory filings, Starlux’s A350s will be quite dense, as A350-900s are expected to feature 306 seats, which sure makes me wonder about the layout
Regardless, I’m sure Starlux will impress. While most airline startups are low cost, Starlux is going upmarket, and describes itself as a “detail-oriented luxury airline.” The onboard experience really reflects that, with an absolutely spectacular soft product. Then again, China Airlines and EVA Air aren’t too shabby in business class either.
I’m also looking forward to put my Starlux COSMILE Insighter status to the test. 😉 Now if only Starlux Airlines could get some airline partnerships, so that there’s a good way to earn & redeem points for these flights. Aeroplan, I’m looking at you!
Bottom line
I’m excited for Starlux Airlines to launch long haul flights, and it sounds like things are on track for an early 2023 start for Los Angeles flights. There are still quite a few unknowns, including what Starlux’s A350 interiors will be like.
Unfortunately Taiwan continues to remain closed to most travelers, with eligible travelers having to undergo a quarantine. Until that changes, this flight will only be useful to many if connecting elsewhere, like Bangkok or Singapore.
Do you think Starlux Airlines will launch LAX flights in early 2023?
(Tip of the hat to @IshrionA)
Wont happen
I forgot to include this in my last comment. I was going to mention that on Chinese airlines, excluding Hong Kong, SFO can only manage one daily flight each to Beijing and Shanghai on while LAX, YVR, and JFK can manage two or three each PLUS a bunch of secondary Chinese cities. I don’t know how well the oddball routes like SFO-CTU on UA or SFO-TAO on MU, each with like 2 or 3 weekly...
I forgot to include this in my last comment. I was going to mention that on Chinese airlines, excluding Hong Kong, SFO can only manage one daily flight each to Beijing and Shanghai on while LAX, YVR, and JFK can manage two or three each PLUS a bunch of secondary Chinese cities. I don’t know how well the oddball routes like SFO-CTU on UA or SFO-TAO on MU, each with like 2 or 3 weekly flights, do and I’m guessing they’re just there because subsidies and not because SFO is a strong enough market to justify a nonstop flight to secondary China.
Congrats to Starlux! LAX is the perfect starting point given the large Taiwanese population there, especially in the SGV/626 area. I predict that SJC will follow. SJC instead of SFO because my impression is that the Taiwanese population in the Bay Area is concentrated more towards the lower Peninsula, Fremont, and South Bay. Most of them don’t live near SFO and would like to avoid the long trek to SFO. Not to mention the tech...
Congrats to Starlux! LAX is the perfect starting point given the large Taiwanese population there, especially in the SGV/626 area. I predict that SJC will follow. SJC instead of SFO because my impression is that the Taiwanese population in the Bay Area is concentrated more towards the lower Peninsula, Fremont, and South Bay. Most of them don’t live near SFO and would like to avoid the long trek to SFO. Not to mention the tech industry traffic especially involving semiconductors (although I’m pretty sure SFO-TPE is only being kept around on UA because it’s basically another of those Apple business jet flights). SFO-TPE is already saturated with CI, BR, and UA. I’m shocked why CI or BR didn’t already try to jump on the SJC-TPE route like CI did with ONT-TPE. I think SJC should get some sort of decent lounge (a Galactic Lounge would be awesome) to make it more attractive, though. The problem in the Bay Area is that the Chinese population is pretty segregated. The areas surrounding SFO (especially SF proper) has been, and continues to be, dominated by Cantonese speakers with ties to the Hong Kong/Canton area. Many of them are earlier immigrants. Hence why SFO-HKG is/was such a strong route flown by so many airlines (in fact, the second busiest international route from SFO after LHR in 2019). The newer, mostly Mandarin-speaking, immigrants from the PRC tend to gravitate away from SF and more towards South Bay or other suburbs, many of which are considerably closer to OAK and SJC. I’m not surprised that excluding Hong Kong, SFO can’t sustain much else besides Beijing or Shanghai, unlike LAX, YVR, and even JFK who can manage a bunch of secondary Chinese cities. But it’s disappointing that SJC can only manage a Hainan Airlines flight to Beijing.
This looks like it came straight from a PR firm. It show say advertisement at the bottom. Its getting like I cant trust the Internet for unbiased news.
I guess it all depends on travel restrictions to Taiwan. Currently, even international transit is banned.
Unfortunately, I think opening up has become less realistic in the last few months. Many very cautious countries (Australia, NZ, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, to some degree even South Korea) have opened their borders in the last few months. I don't see what else needs to happen for Taiwan (and the PR of China) to open up?
IAD could really use the service - the only carrier to offer decent first class service to/from Asia is NH, so the competition is welcome!
How long until we could see TPE-PHX? Several hundred TSMC engineers and their families moving to PHX in coming months as new factory spins up. With all the suppliers also moving into the area there should be some decent ongoing demand. I'd suspect maybe not daily service but start with 3x per week.
I'd be surprised. For as busy as PHX is and as big a city as Phoenix has become, it only has the AA/BA flights to Heathrow as overseas flights. Nothing to Asia or anywhere else in Europe. Guess thats what happens when a huge chunk of your volume is Southwest Flights
Cool, hope to see this airline grow.
I really wish they join Oneworld. With CX and MH nearly dead, Oneworld has lost a significant portion of connectivity in Asia. JL is the only Oneworld carrier that hasn't lost much, but sometimes you have to move between HND and NRT for transit, which is reeeally inconvenient.
Thanks for the article. I think I should try them out for the novelty sometime. I'm really intrigued now.
It’s amazing that the pandemic didn’t butcher them.
Gonna be interesting to see how they plan on being a "luxury carrier" while also being the 3rd-wheel on LAX-TPE.
CI and BR can offer shockingly low fares (though not lately, due to several factors), so either StarLux differentiates itself by going for a revenue premium in a relatively lite business market (good luck), or they have some other unannounced strategy for survival.
Join OneWorld and come to DFW Starlux!