A newest airline, Starlux, launches brand new direct flights between San Francisco and Taipei

(SAN FRANCISCO) A newest airline in Taiwan, Starlux, launched a brand new direct flight service on December 16 between San Francisco and Taipei in the growing aviation market of San Francisco Bay Area.

Starlux, founded in 2018 with commercial services starting in 2020, is the newest airline based in Taiwan. After launching its routes in 2020 between Taipei and major cities in South East Asia and Japan, Starlux has entered into the U.S. in 2023 with new direct flight services to Los Angeles in April and to San Francisco on December 16.

Since the launch at SFO, Starlux has operated three flights weekly to Taipei on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The direct flight service will expand to daily starting March 20, 2024.

According to the latest data released by the San Francisco International Airport (SFO), significant growth has been shown for international travel at SFO and continues to expand.

In August 2023, SFO had reached up to 97% of international travel as compared to 2019 levels prior to the pandemic.

By the end of 2023, with the return of three key carriers from China, Air China, China Eastern, and China Southern, in November 2023, and the expansion of new carriers including Starlux in December 2023, it is expected that SFO will exceed the number of international flights pre-pandemic.

During the pandemic until December 2023, SFO added 8 new airlines in its international routes, Air Transat, Breeze, Flair, ITA, Qatar, Vietnam, ZIPAIR and the latest Starlux. Porter Airlines, which provides direct services between SFO and cities in Canada, will launch its flights at SFO in January 2024.

“Attracting new airlines and new destinations to SFO has been such an important part of our post-pandemic recovery,” said Ivar C. Satero, SFO Airport Director. “Reaching this level of international passenger activity demonstrates that San Francisco continues to be a compelling destination for new and existing airlines.”

“International travel is a vital part of San Francisco’s tourism industry,” said Joe D’Allesandro, President and CEO of San Francisco Travel Association. “The addition of new airline routes and increased number of international flights, especially those catering to Asian travelers, is a huge step forward in our path to recovery.”

“This milestone demonstrates our city’s resilience and is a clear indication that San Francisco remains a must-visit destination for travelers from around the world,” D’Allesandro said.

In 2022, Asia was the top one destination for international passengers sharing 38.4% of the entire number of enplaned and deplaned passengers at SFO, followed by Europe 23.6%, Latin America 15.8%, Canada 10.8%, Australia/Oceania 8% and Middle East 3.4%.

Among the top international destinations in 2022 at SFO, Taiwan ranked 6th only behind Japan in Asian countries. The data also showed that the flights between SFO and Taiwan were in higher demand by passengers with fewer flights.

Starlux is a start-up airline in Taiwan, but the management has a rich history in the airline business. Starlux's founder, Kuo Wei Chang, started his own airline after being ousted from Eva Airways, which was founded by his late father Yung-Fa Chang and is currently owned by the Chang family.

K.W. Chang, who is the youngest son of his father and only child of Y.F. Chang's second wife, had worked at Eva for decades and served as the Chairman of Eva from 2013 until 2016. Y.F. Chang passed away in January 2016.

In March 2016, K.W. Chang was ousted from Eva as Chairman by his family members at a board meeting, according to news reports.

Records also showed that in November 2016, the young Chang had filed papers in Taiwan to start his own airline, Starlux.

Starlux began operation in 2018. Chang, 53, has served as the Chairman and hired Glenn Chai, Eva's former executive, as CEO of Starlux. Chang was educated in the U.S. with a master degree in Economics from California State University Long Beach.

"He (Chang) has an unwavering passion for aviation and is also a skilled commercial pilot," said Starlux in the fact sheet. "Expanding his piloting expertise, Chang attained the Airbus A320 type rating in 2019 and A350 type rating in 2022."

Stalux's current fleet size is 21 Airbus aircrafts including the flight between SFO and Taipei. The inaugural flight started from Taipei on December 16 and arrived in SFO on the same day.

Chang was the pilot for both inaugural direct flights between Taipei and Los Angeles in April and SFO on December 16. After piloting the first flight arrived in SFO, Chang did not attend the inaugural ceremony at the SFO gate.

Chai cut the ribbon on behalf of Starlux as CEO with other guests at the ceremony. "San Francisco is my second home. I lived in San Francisco for 4 years," said Chai, who was previously stationed in San Francisco as a senior representative for Eva Airways.

“The launch of our San Francisco to Taiwan route tops off an amazing series of milestones for Starlux. In January 2020, we took to the skies with three intra-Asia flights. Three years on, by staying focused on our vision and ambition, we have expanded our network and now fly to 22 destinations,” said Chai. “We launched our inaugural transpacific flight to Los Angeles in April, and now celebrate our second US destination, San Francisco.” Chai also said Starlux's next route in the U.S. will be Seattle in August 2024.

Starlux has also become the 4th airline at SFO to offer direct services to Taipei following China Airlines, United Airlines and Eva Airways.

Jennifer Lee, who is an immigrant from Hong Kong and a frequent traveller to Taipei, was excited to see a new airline serving the SFO and Taipei route with direct flights. "I have friends in Taiwan and enjoy the wonderful food there. I plan to visit Taiwan again in Spring of 2024," said Lee.

"I will definitely try the new flight from Starlux. More competitions are always helpful to the consumers. It will bring in more options and quality services," said Lee.