Starlux launching Airbus A350 First Class to Los Angeles on 26 April

Starlux, Taiwan’s self-professed “detail-oriented luxury airline”, has revealed its first long-haul route and first introduction of the Airbus A350 First Class cabin on its network, with flights between Taipei and Los Angeles kicking off from late April this year.

While the airline’s flagship Airbus A350-900s are already flying on some regional routes to and from Bangkok, Macau and Tokyo, this will represent the launch of the First Class cabin row on this aircraft, a sort of “Business+” product, which has been left unsold on these shorter routes.

The Starlux Airbus A350-900 accommodates 306 passengers, with the following four-class layout:

• 4 First Class Suites
• 26 Business Class seats
• 36 Premium Economy Class seats
• 240 Economy Class seats

The schedule

Starlux will operate a special inaugural flight from Taipei to Los Angeles on Wednesday 26th April 2023, which has day timing and is no doubt designed to host a media delegation at a more sociable hour, with a daytime landing into Los Angeles for the obligatory water cannon salute!

Taipei – Los Angeles
Inaugural Flight
26 Apr 2023

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	JX2 A350
TPE 14:10		LAX 11:00

The regular flight schedule on this route then runs five days per week from 27th April to the end of May 2023, as shown below.

Taipei – Los Angeles
27 Apr – 31 May 2023

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	JX2 A350
TPE 23:40		LAX 20:30

Los Angeles – Taipei
27 Apr – 31 May 2023

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	JX1 A350
LAX 00:50		TPE 05:40*

* Next day

Service increases to daily from 1st June 2023.

Taipei – Los Angeles
From 1 Jun 2023

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	JX2 A350
TPE 23:40		LAX 20:30

Los Angeles – Taipei
From 1 Jun 2023

			Days
			M	T	W	T	F	S	S
	JX1 A350
LAX 00:50		TPE 05:40*

* Next day

The regular JX2 flights from Taipei to Los Angeles depart at 11.40pm, allowing connections from other cities in Asia. The 11-hour 50-minute service then touches down in Los Angeles at 8.30pm the same calendar day.

On the return leg, JX1 departs from Los Angeles at close to 1am, with arrival into Taipei 13 hours and 50 minutes later at 5.40am on the next calendar day.

Naturally, these will be the longest flights on the Starlux network once they launch, but the A350-900 has a much greater range, allowing the carrier to stretch its wings across to the U.S. East Coast in future.

Starlux has not yet released these flights for sale, simply loading them into the Global Distribution System so far with availability zeroed-out in all cabin classes, but we expect this will happen progressively through the carrier’s website and the usual other channels soon.

We’ll be sure to update this article as soon as these flights go on sale, and it will be particularly interesting to see how the price differential between the First and Business Class cabin looks.

Starlux A350 First Class

One of the big selling points of the new Starlux A350s is the inclusion of a four-seat single-row First Class cabin, with 60-inch-high closing doors for privacy, a wardrobe to store your belongings, a personal mini-bar, and a huge 32-inch 4K in-flight entertainment screen.

Starlux will be the only Taiwanese carrier offering a First Class cabin, with both China Airlines and EVA Air discontinuing their own First Class product over the last few years.

This cabin has not been made available for sale on Starlux’s inaugural Airbus A350 intra-Asia flights, with the carrier confirming to us last month that the product would indeed only launch on the Los Angeles route.

That’s perhaps understandable, because a significant element of the First Class offering will be in the “soft product”, including the dining experience, which can’t really be shown off to full advantage on flights of a couple of hours.

We certainly look forward to the airline sharing more details of its First Class experience, including which Champagne will be served, since we expect a vintage pour will be offered (Starlux currently serves Bollinger Champagne in Business Class).

One downside of the Starlux A350 First Class cabin is that it’s not physically separated from the Business Class section by a divider wall.

Instead, Business Class begins immediately behind it, in Row 2.

Starlux A350 Business Class

These new Los Angeles flights will also feature the new Starlux long-haul Business Class product, with 26 seats in a 1-2-1 configuration directly behind that First Class row in the forward cabin section.

These also include closing privacy doors, but at a more ‘chest-height’ 48 inches tall.

The herringbone arrangement in this cabin sees window seats and middle seats angled away from the aisle, in a similar layout to the new British Airways Club Suite.

Starlux has provided the following seat map of the A350 First Class and Business Class cabin, with window seats at Row 3 and Row 7 in Business Class marked as having a “partially obstructed view”.

The only other apparent downside in Business Class is seen at the middle seat pair 8D and 8G, sandwiched between the two toilets at the rear of the cabin and closest to the galley area, where foot traffic and noise disturbance is more likely.

Each seat in this cabin boasts a 24-inch 4K in-flight entertainment screen, bigger than any SIA offers in Business Class, and unsurprisingly also converts to a fully-flat bed.

Further photos of the product are still awaited, with Starlux teasing only a few details to date, including a screen at the back wall of the cabin, greeting passengers on boarding with “a digital illustration of [an] ever-growing bouquet of flowers”.

If you’re a German speaker (or even if you’re not, since auto-subtitles are available), check out this recent YouTube video covering the A350 Business Class experience between Bangkok and Taipei, including a peek into the First Class seats as well.

Other cabins

The Starlux A350 also features a Premium Economy cabin, a first for the carrier, with 36 seats in a 2-4-2 configuration.

Finally the largest cabin on the Starlux A350s is the 240-seat Economy Class section, which has a 3-3-3 layout – not so friendly for couples, unlike the carrier’s 2-4-2 layout in Economy on the A330neo.

These are the same Recaro CL3710 seats fitted to the airline’s A330neo aircraft, including a 13.3-inch 4K Ultra-HD IFE screen.

Electro-dimmable windows

One of the nifty new features on the Starlux Airbus A350s is one many of us are already familiar with when flying on the Boeing 787 – electro-dimmable passenger windows (EDWs).

Starlux is the launch customer to add this option to its A350s, which Airbus claims will transition twice as fast between light and dark, plus block out more light, compared to the original versions on the market.

As you can see there is therefore no physical window shade installed, with the EDW brightness controlled by a panel at the window base.

Singapore connections

As a future hub-and-spoke operator, Starlux has timed its regular Los Angles flights to allow connections to and from the rest of its network across South East Asia.

This will include use of the carrier’s fantastic looking Galactic Lounge in Taipei during the transit for eligible passengers, which has only recently opened its doors.

Fine dining is on the agenda here, with “carefully prepared dishes served by professional chefs”.

For example, passengers originating in Singapore on JX732, which uses the carrier’s Airbus A330-900neo aircraft, will be able to make a 3-hour 55-minute connection in Taipei before flying onward to Los Angeles, for a total travel time of 20 hours 25 minutes.

On the return leg, a Los Angeles – Taipei – Singapore itinerary is possible with a 3-hour 25-minute connection in Taipei, for a total travel time of 21 hours 55 minutes.

Again it will be interesting to see how competitive the pricing for these options looks, once seats for the Los Angeles services go on sale.

Well-timed connections from Starlux’s Bangkok, Penang and Kuala Lumpur flights will also allow protected itineraries through to Los Angeles on these new flights.

For more details about the Starlux A330neo Business Class seat used on the Singapore route and many other regional flights, see our article here.

Starlux is finally going long-haul this year, with its inaugural Airbus A350 Taipei – Los Angeles flight from 26th April 2023, and return service from the following day.

Five services per week are initially planned, increasing to daily from June, but this is likely to be only the beginning with the airline promising a larger network across North America as more of its 18-strong fleet of Airbus A350s are delivered in the coming years.

This will also mark the debut of Starlux’s single-row First Class product, which is more of a “Business+” design with higher privacy and more space for four seats, though details of the all-important “soft product” are likely what will set it apart from a very impressive-looking Business Class cabin.

Watch this space for seats going on sale.

(Cover Photo: Starlux Airlines)