The Taiwanese airline has confirmed the launch of a new route to the United States starting in June, which will operate from Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport. Services will be performed with Airbus A350-900 aircraft, configured for 300 passengers in four seating classes (4 seats in First, 26 seats in Business, 36 seats in Premium Economy and 240 seats in Economy).

Ontario will become STARLUX Airlines’ fourth regular destination in North America, all of which are in the United States. At the time of publication, according to our database, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle are part of the schedule, also operated to/from Taiwan’s capital city.

The first flight between Taipei and Ontario will depart from Taiwan on June 2nd at 20:05 local time, and is expected to arrive in the U.S. city the same day at 17:05 local time. In accordance with its website, operations are scheduled to continue through October 25th, as tickets are on sale until that date.

Schedule between Taipei and Ontario · STARLUX

Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday

• JX 10  Taipei TPE 20:05 · 17:05 ONT Ontario
• JX 9  Ontario ONT 23:10 · 04:15+2 TPE Taipei

With this schedule, STARLUX Airlines will provide 1,200 seats per week between TPE and ONT and vice versa.

China Airlines, which will be its only competitor on this route, has seven weekly flights with 358-seat Boeing 777-300(ER) planes, reaching a total of 2,506 seats offered each week.

As per our database, STARLUX’s main market is Asia, with almost 30 destinations from/to Taipei, its hub. It also has some short-haul routes to/from Taichung, another major airport in Taiwan.

Angeles City (Clark), Bangkok, Cebu, Chiang Mai, Da Nang, Fukuoka, Hakodate, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Kumamoto, Los Angeles, Macau, Nagoya, Okinawa, Osaka, Penang, Phu Quoc, San Francisco, Sapporo, Seattle, Sendai, Singapore and Tokyo Narita are part of STARLUX Airlines’ regular schedule.

Taipei Taoyuan

In addition, the airline operates to Okinawa, Takamatsu, Macau and Phu Quoc from Taichung, four, three, seven and seven times weekly, respectively, all with 188-seat Airbus A321neo single-class aircraft.

Regarding China Airlines and EVA Air, STARLUX Airlines’ main competitors in the Taiwan-US market, China Airlines operates to Los Angeles, New York JFK, Ontario, San Francisco and Seattle, the same destinations as STARLUX excluding John F Kennedy International Airport. EVA Air has services to Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York JFK, San Francisco and Seattle, on Boeing 777-300(ER) and Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner airplanes, exceeding 75 frequencies per week.

With its five routes, China Airlines has 33 weekly flights in this market, operated by Airbus A350-900 and Boeing 777-300(ER) jets.

Routes

• Chicago (ORD): 7 weekly · Boeing 777 · EVA Air
• Houston (IAH): 7 weekly · Boeing 777 · EVA Air
• Los Angeles (LAX): 10 weekly · A359/77W · China Airlines
• Los Angeles (LAX): 21 weekly · Boeing 777 · EVA Air
• Los Angeles (LAX): 10 weekly · Airbus A350 · STARLUX
• New York (JFK): 4 weekly · Boeing 777 · China Airlines
• New York (JFK): 7 weekly · Boeing 777 · EVA Air
• Ontario (ONT): 7 weekly · A359/77W · China Airlines
• Ontario (ONT): 4 weekly · Airbus A350 · STARLUX · eff June 2nd
• San Francisco (SFO): 7 weekly · Boeing 777 · China Airlines
• San Francisco (SFO): 21 weekly · Boeing 777 · EVA Air
• San Francisco (SFO): 7 weekly · Airbus A350 · STARLUX
• Seattle (SEA): 5 weekly · Airbus A350 · China Airlines
• Seattle (SEA): 10 weekly · A359/781 · EVA Air
• Seattle (SEA): 3 weekly · Airbus A350 · STARLUX

Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are the other airlines operating in the Taiwan – United States market.

Also in North America, China Airlines and EVA Air have services between Taipei and Canada, with Toronto (EVA Air) and Vancouver (China Airlines and EVA Air) being the destinations.

Fleet

STARLUX has a modern fleet of 26 aircraft, averaging five years old. All of them are Airbus.

13 Airbus A321neo of 188 seats (8 Business and 180 Economy), 5 Airbus A330neo of 297 seats (28 Business and 269 Economy) and 8 Airbus A350-900 are part of the fleet, with plans to add two more A330neo and A359 in the short term.

Airbus A350F

In addition, with respect to other fleet developments, STARLUX Airlines has placed a firm order with Airbus for five more A350F freighters in early January. This doubles the order the airline placed last year for five new freighter aircraft.

“The cargo market is set to become a key element in our business model and will benefit from the advantages offered by Taiwan’s geographical location,” said STARLUX CEO Glenn Chai. “The A350F is the perfect choice for STARLUX, offering a similar payload-range capability as previous generation freighters, but with very significant reductions in fuel consumption and carbon emissions.”

“We thank STARLUX Airlines for its ongoing confidence in Airbus and its products,” commented Benoît de Saint-Exupéry, Airbus EVP Sales Commercial Aircraft at Airbus. “The A350F will fit seamlessly into the carrier’s latest generation all-Airbus fleet which offers unrivalled levels of technical and operational commonality. This second order from this fast-growing airline is another endorsement of the all-new A350F as the future game-changer in heavy lift markets.”

The Airbus A350Fs, which are currently under development, will be able to carry a payload of up to 111 tonnes and fly 8,700 kilometers.

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Cover photo: HHD0221 – JetPhotos (Taipei Taoyuan Int’l Airport – RCTP – Taiwan)