New Airline: STARLUX

[longway]

A new Tiawanese airline has opened for business here in the Philippines. Starlux. I stopped at their booth in Ayayla Mall cebu today and they are running decent sale prices right now to and from other Asian countries and the USA (LAX). Has anyone tried them yet? Impressions?

[GeoffH]

54 minutes ago, longway said:

A new Tiawanese airline has opened for business here in the Philippines. Starlux. 

I was reading about them, their claim to fame seems to be 'providing full service carrier flying' at 'budget carrier prices' from the blurbs I read.

That seems... unsustainable... to me, but more power to them if they can manage it.

[JJReyes]

There are several problems with using a start-up airline.

1.  They begin life with certain assumptions regarding projected revenues.  If the expectations don't materialize, financial problems within the first year of operations.  Best to pay with a credit card.

2.  No back-up aircrafts.  If there is a maintenance problem, you may get stuck a week while repairs are made.  Most use 2nd or 3rd hand aircrafts.

3.  No relationships with airport administrators.  They are assigned terrible arrival and departure gates.

During our younger days, we would do all sorts of crazy things to get lower prices.  I was registered as a Buddhist monk with an organization which entitled my wife (she was a nun) and I to a 30% religious' discount.  A new Thai carrier violated IATA rules through a loophole.  They charged the full fare, asked for a 50% pre-flight payment and the balance supposedly was airline financed.  You ignored their one letter demanding additional payment.  In effect, it was a 50% discount.

[Hestecrefter]

3 hours ago, GeoffH said:

I was reading about them, their claim to fame seems to be 'providing full service carrier flying' at 'budget carrier prices' from the blurbs I read.

That seems... unsustainable... to me, but more power to them if they can manage it.

I think you are right about unsustainable.  But yes, great if they pull it off.

Kinda' reminds me of Star Asia Air.  Anyone here remember them?  I flew with them once in the Phils in 1995.  Attracted by the good deal offered.  I recall it was okay.  I think they lasted about a year.

[OnMyWay]

Could be promising.  Might be some deep pockets involved.

The company was registered in 2016 with the Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs.^[4] This was confirmed by Chang Kuo-wei on 30 November 2016, who was formerly the chairman of Taiwanese airline EVA Air and the son of its founder Chang Yung-fa

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starlux_Airlines#Premium_Economy_class

EVA is a solid company and it seems Starlux is following a similar business model.  EVA offers good service and good prices.  I was working at LAX when they started their LAX service in the 90's.  They were welcome competition in the markets.

[OnMyWay]

17 hours ago, JJReyes said:

I was registered as a Buddhist monk with an organization which entitled my wife (she was a nun) and I to a 30% religious' discount.

Pictures are worth a thousand words! 

[JJReyes]

6 hours ago, OnMyWay said:

Pictures are worth a thousand words! 

Before joining, I asked if I had to shave my head.  They answered, "No."  The whole thing was a scheme to get around strict IATA rules that dictated pricing.  We would try flying on Loftelier, an Icelandic airline because they were one of the few non-IATA member airlines.   The US government eventually declared the organization as a monopoly.  I believe the first to start offering discount airfares was Laker Airlines.  

[Sailor Jerry]

Looking forward to using them to fly out of Clark, pricing should be right I hope.  Have some serious clout behind them it looks.

[russellmania]

I flew Starlux from Taipei to Manila because Eva departed Houston late so I missed my connection. I have no complaints about the airline. Nice color scheme in economy class. 

[OnMyWay]

On 8/13/2023 at 12:42 PM, Sailor Jerry said:

Looking forward to using them to fly out of Clark, pricing should be right I hope.  Have some serious clout behind them it looks.

They show up on Google flights now, but it seems like for farther out dates, nothing.  The same on their website.  Very odd.