Taiwan’s Starlux eyes flights to Australia

The startup’s ambitions could open another route to Taiwan and beyond.

By David Flynn, April 21 2023
Taiwan’s Starlux eyes flights to Australia

Starlux Airlines is spreadings its wings across Asia and to North America, and Australia could also find its way onto that list.

The Taiwanese start-up, which describes itself as a “detail-oriented luxury airline”, is steadily building up its fleet of Airbus A330neo and A350 jets –and while its initial long-haul focus is on North America, it plans to eventually fly to Europe and Australia, CEO Glenn Chai told Reuters.

Starlux will launch A350 flights to Los Angeles next week, with San Francisco to follow by years end – and “New York is a must,” Chai adds.

Closer to home, Australia could be served by either the A350 or the A330neo.

Both of which sport modern business class with free WiFi, although the A350 has sliding privacy doors in business, which our exclusive Starlux A350 business class review described as “a suitably stellar offering”, bookended by first class and premium economy.

Australia’s east coast capitals are already served by Taiwanese rivals China Airlines and EVA Air, which are respectively members of SkyTeam and Star Alliance, and Starlux has already suggested it could join Oneworld in an effort to level up its global ambitions.

“Once we have reached a certain level of growth, we will certainly become a member of an alliance to provide more convenience to our passengers,” a Starlux spokesperson previously told Executive Traveller.

Qatar Privilage Club

31 Mar 2023

Total posts 7

Great news if they come to Australia, their business class looks great and with their CEO coming from EVA Airlines they will be pulling out all the stops to offer a great product.

Joe
Joe

03 May 2013

Total posts 674

Hope they join oneworld.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

10 Apr 2012

Total posts 318

With the current fleet size, probably be hard pushed to join any alliance...  Would be great if maybe they get sponsored to become a OneWorld Connect member to start off with before they build their fleet size.

Cathay Pacific - The Marco Polo Club

01 Oct 2021

Total posts 14

The arrogance of the CEO is second to none. The airline is a financial disaster and its getting worse. They cancel flights like there is no tomorrow and its virtually imnpossible to get customer service. They even admit themsleves at head office  in Taipei as myself and freinds have all had to go there to get refunds or change flights due to cancellations. There is even fiancial warning on the stock market in Taiwan about this company. The lounge in Taipei is a joke with no toilets or showers. The offerings in the lounge are nothing short of laughable.


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