Starlux Airlines wants to fly to New York, the United States, yet its plans have been negatively impacted by Airbus delivery delays.
“New York is a must – it is the largest city in North America, but it depends on aircraft deliveries,” stated Glenn Chai, the Taiwanese airline’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) during an interview with Reuters, adding that Airbus is currently unable to deliver aircraft quickly enough.
The carrier currently aims to begin operations to one US destination, launching flights from Taipei Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). According to flightradar24.com data, an Airbus A350-900 is scheduled to fly between TPE and LAX on flight JX2 on April 26, 2023.
The all-Airbus operator has 20 aircraft in its fleet, namely 13 A321neo, four A330-900neo, and three A350-900, according to ch-aviation.com data. During the past few days its wide-body fleet, namely the A330-900neo and A350-900s, has been flying between TPE and several destinations throughout Asia, including but not exclusive to, Singapore Changi Airport (SIN), Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK), Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT), and Macau International Airport (MCM).
However, Chai noted that Starlux Airlines welcomes “Boeing to take part in the price quotation process,” which suggests that the Taiwanese airline is also looking to introduce Boeing aircraft into its fleet.
“We have been pushing Airbus to provide the aircraft as soon as possible, but their production rate is not able at the moment to return to pre-pandemic levels,” Chai told Reuters.
Starlux Airlines began operations in January 2020 with three Airbus A321neo aircraft. Airbus delivered the airline’s first A350-900 in October 2022, with the carrier having taken the first A330-900neo several months earlier.
According to Airbus Orders & Deliveries data as of March 31, 2023, the airline has a total of 17 A350-900s on order from the European manufacturer.