In May 2025, Taiwan-based Starlux Airlines revealed its next destination in the United States, and it’s not what you’d necessarily expect. At the time, it was the first destination in the United States that the airline announced that wasn’t yet served by at least one of Taiwan’s two other global carriers (China Airlines and EVA Air). However, that has since changed.
I want to provide an update, as this flight has now become bookable (thanks to @IshrionA for flagging this), so we have all the details of what we can expect.
In this post:
Starlux adds Taipei to Phoenix flights as of January 2026
As of January 15, 2026, Starlux Airlines will launch flights between Taipei Taoyuan Airport (TPE) and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX). Specifically, the flight will operate with the following schedule:
JX26 Taipei to Phoenix departing 8:45PM arriving 5:40PM
JX25 Phoenix to Taipei departing 10:45PM arriving 4:55AM (+2 days)
The 7,401-mile route is blocked at 11hr55min eastbound and 15hr10min westbound. The flight will initially operate 3x weekly (on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, in both directions), prior to increasing to 4x weekly as of mid-March 2026 (with added service on Saturdays).
Once launched, this will be the carrier’s longest route to date. As is the case on all of the carrier’s routes to the United States, this will be flown by an Airbus A350-900. That plane is equipped with 306 seats, including four first class seats, 26 business class seats, 36 premium economy seats, and 240 economy seats. I’ve reviewed Starlux’s excellent A350 business class.
Phoenix will be Starlux’s fifth destination in the United States, complementing flights to Los Angeles (LAX), Ontario (ONT), San Francisco (SFO), and Seattle (SEA).
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego broke the news of this route several weeks back, and shared that this comes as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) plans to invest $165 billion into its Phoenix facilities. As she explained:
“Phoenix’s first non-stop flight to Asia reflects the incredible strides we’ve made with our local economy, and our emergence as an international city. TSMC’s historic investment in Phoenix has brought thousands of high wage jobs and boosted our reputation as a semiconductor hub, and now it’s helping increase air service demand.”
Here’s what Starlux Airlines Chairman K.W. Chang had to say about this announcement:
“I knew from the moment I set foot in Phoenix that STARLUX should make the investment to fly here. Not only is the growth of business between Taipei and Phoenix staggering, it’s a perfect match for our level of service. We are proud and honored to be the first carrier to provide nonstop Asia service for the Phoenix community.”
My take on Starlux’s latest long haul expansion
What makes this service addition interesting is that when Starlux first revealed plans to launch this route, it was going to be the only destination in the United States served by Starlux, but not China Airlines or EVA Air.
However, once Starlux announced these plans, China Airlines also decided to join in on the fun. The SkyTeam carrier is launching Phoenix flights as well, and is even beating Starlux to the punch, with flights starting in December 2025. However, the flight will only be nonstop in one direction — on the westbound sector, the China Airlines flight will route through Los Angeles (LAX), with pick-up rights there.
So, why is Phoenix suddenly getting two links to Taiwan? Up until this point, Phoenix has had zero flights to Asia, so to go from zero to two flights is a huge win for the local community. Obviously TSMC is a major part of this decision, though one wonders if that’s enough to sustain both of these flights.
I’m not sure how this is going to play out, but on the surface, China Airlines has several advantages over Starlux, in terms of making this route viable:
- China Airlines has a much bigger network, so there are a lot more points in Asia and beyond that travelers can connect to
- China Airlines is launching a partnership with Southwest, which has a massive hub in Phoenix, so there will be connectivity on that end as well
- By stopping in Los Angeles, the airline has a wider customer base with which it can fill these planes
Now, it’s worth remembering that Starlux has a partnership with Alaska Airlines, and Starlux wants to join the oneworld alliance. However, it remains to be seen if that alliance membership comes to fruition, given the differing interests of various airlines.
Bottom line
As of January 15, 2026, Starlux Airlines plans to launch 3x weekly flights to Phoenix, before increasing frequencies to 4x weekly. This is a huge win for Arizona, especially with China Airlines also launching this route, meaning the airport will have service from two Asian carriers.
It remains to be seen if the market can sustain that amount of capacity. Regardless, this is great in terms of connectivity from Arizona to Taiwan and beyond.
What do you make of Starlux launching Phoenix flights?
the stop in LAX aside, the CI departure and arrival times are much better
On Starlux in Oneworld: With Starlux's plans on PHX, perhaps AA and City of PHX can help Starlux's entry to Oneworld.
Perhaps Cathay, who many think are an obstacle to the above, can be told that, either they fly to/from PHX direct or not hinder Starlux's entry to Oneworld. (May be this is wishful thinking on my part.)
I've been in South East Asia for about a month, and everywhere I have been - Bangkok, HCMC, Chiang Mai, Samui, Singapore, Hanoi - the ads for all three Taiwanese carriers have been ubiquitous. Particularly in Bangkok, you simply cannot miss them if you try (including the EVA one with the corrected spelling of 'Sapporo' - the ad features a list of all of their North American and Asian destinations, with first 'o' clearly having...
I've been in South East Asia for about a month, and everywhere I have been - Bangkok, HCMC, Chiang Mai, Samui, Singapore, Hanoi - the ads for all three Taiwanese carriers have been ubiquitous. Particularly in Bangkok, you simply cannot miss them if you try (including the EVA one with the corrected spelling of 'Sapporo' - the ad features a list of all of their North American and Asian destinations, with first 'o' clearly having to have been corrected...I'm sure someone got in trouble for that!).
A connection or two between Taipei and India (which has not restarted post-pandemic) will make this route a bigger success.
Following that other trans-pacific flight connections to/from PHX (JAL??) will get started.
I don't see any saver award availability for this flight on Alaska Airlines' website.
Is it gone already?
But, but.... you have not mentioned the most important thing. How can we use miles to fly this route and availability.
What’s interesting is that StarLux Flight 1 (LAX to TPE) just landed with a flight time of 12 hours and 40 minutes for the 6,794 miles. And Flight 2 (TPE to LAX) is en route with an estimated time of 12 hours and 50 minutes.
Clearly, Ben’s computation of flight times for the 7,401 miles from TPE to PHX were made at the end of a long trip with not enough sleep.
These dumb dumbs want 250K in Alaska miles for business class each way. LOL. No thanks.
The point redemption between the Starlux and China Eastern is quite significant. Booking China Eastern on AF is 36K miles +$129. Booking Starlux on Alaska is 62.5K + $19. For a $550 cash rate one way, it doesn't make sense to use awards.
I agree that 62k is to much for an econ flight to Asia but I've seen award flights on starlux from SFO and LAX for 42.5k in economy, 55k in PE and I recently booked Bkk to SFO in business for 85k.
I've never seen a 3 hour block difference between Eastbound and Westbound flights. For example, Eva Air's TPE-IAH route only shows an hour difference (14h30 Eastbound and 15h30 Westbound).
Any idea if there will be any special or differentiated ground services for First Class passengers at PHX?
I think the calculation of time didn't take into account that Arizona is an hour ahead of California in January (unlike now, when it's the same time in Phoenix as in LA because Arizona does not use DST). StarLux says its current flight from TPE to LAX takes 12 hours. Are they going to speed up the jets so they average 612 mph? Or is it really a 13-hour flight?
The swift ramp-up in capacity is startling, and understandably so. But I think people may be surprised by just how much burgeoning demand there might be, for PHX-TPE service:
Moov, Microchip TI, Onsemi, ASM, and Anadigm are PHX-based semiconductor companies that may have an interest in supporting these flights... so it's not just TSMC.
Freeport McMoRan is likely going to be another huge supporter. They're the 2nd largest mining company in the country, with most...
The swift ramp-up in capacity is startling, and understandably so. But I think people may be surprised by just how much burgeoning demand there might be, for PHX-TPE service:
Moov, Microchip TI, Onsemi, ASM, and Anadigm are PHX-based semiconductor companies that may have an interest in supporting these flights... so it's not just TSMC.
Freeport McMoRan is likely going to be another huge supporter. They're the 2nd largest mining company in the country, with most of their ops between their Phoenix headquarters and SE Asia. These finally give them 1-stop option to far more destinations than any other carrier now provides.
Why so many reposts of basically the same content?