Staring out the window, and that's where my love of aviation begins…
introduction
Welcome to this flight report, and I am here gonna share my whole journey with you guys for the inaugural flight of Starlux Airlines, which is based in Taiwan.
Currently, there are already 2 well-established traditional airlines in Taiwan, namely EVA Air (BR) and China Airlines (CI), which occupied the market shares for long with a sound reputation and brand name. Just step a little bit out, I would say the positioning of Starlux Airlines is a bit challenging, as it is aimed to provide a luxury flying service with excellent brand value, and set a goal to be the "Emirates of Taiwan". However, in this day and age, where more and more traditional carriers ceased their operation due to the difficulty to gain a market position, it would be a great challenge for Starlux to stand out from its Asian counterparts. Still, as a consumer and aviation enthusiast, I am looking forward to hear more different airlines to establish and innovate, and I believe Starlux could be one of the biggest carriers soon!
There are upcoming aircraft delivery to Starlux, including A321neo for domestic routes and A350-900 for long-haul services. In the inaugural day of operation, there are 3 A321neo delivered, and their registrations are B-58201, B-58202 and B-58203.
head to macau
My journey started from my home, Hong Kong in the early morning. I rushed to the pier for the first ship departure to Macau, where it is 1 hour from Hong Kong by boat. Below are some pictures of the ferry, just for your own interest, not to mention that much in this page.
pre-boarding: the inauguration ceremony
There was a ribbon cutting ceremony before the flight in Macau Airport, but I was inside the boarding gate when the ceremony happens. I just randomly took some pictures after doing my check-in process.
Macau Airport is definitely not a large airport comparing with her neighbor, Hong Kong. There were decorations everywhere in the airport as the Chinese New Year was coming.
There was a water salute in Macau Airport, celebrating the first flight of STARLUX Airlines, however MFM airport is not a nice place for plane spotting…..
The inaugural flight today:
STARLUX Airlines B-58201 (A321-252NX)
23 Jan, 2020 JX202 Macau (MFM) / Taipei (TPE)
There was an one hour delay for this flight, probably there were too many preparation works for this inaugural flight, while the inbound flight was also delayed. But it wont't affect my passion to await the flight.
boarding
What a nice and memorable certificate gave to every passengers in the boarding gate!
The economy cabin of the A321neo for STARLUX Airlines, love their decent colour and design.
There was a flat bed demonstration during boarding, looks pretty cool to get a flat bed in a regional aircraft and the design looks decent.
A pillow was placed on every seats in the economy class, I appreciate this.
I requested for a poker card and the crew told me that I am lucky the get the last pack of poker card in this plane, probably everyone would like to get one for souvenir. I took a picture along with my inaugural flight certificate and the safety card afterwards.
Ready for departure
ife and catering
The in-flight entertainment was comprehensive, with latest Hollywood movies and films in different languages and genre. The screen is sensitive and large enough for a narrow-body jet, and the control is easy. But for this 1.5 hour flight, it's impossible for me to enjoy any one of the movies, so I decided to pick some pop musics to listen, but most of the time I was swinging around the aircraft, so as most of the other passengers did, taking pictures or exploring the facilities of this new aircraft.
Surprisingly, there are plenty beverage selections for a 1.5 hour flight, interesting.
As Starlux is determined to be one of the best full-service airline in the world, there was a full meal served in this 1.5 hour flight, while it's competitors, namely Cathay Pacific and Hong Kong Airlines are just serving sandwiches or snack boxes for similar route (HKG/TPE). There was one meal selection for my flight, that was "Duck Slice with Abalone Imitation with Thai Rice", along with seasonal fruit. For Chinese, this food is a food served for higher-class people, and I was a bit surprised to see them in economy class. The taste of the main course was normal, not bad, but certainly not the best in-flight meal I have tried in economy class. If you trace back my previous flight report of Air Astana (KC), I am very certain that meal in economy class was still the BEST I have ever ate!! Back to STARLUX, the fruits were fresh which I loved it and the almond cookie served along tasted great.
I picked the "STARLUX special" cocktail, looks pretty, but the taste wasn't favourable for me, I guess it's a mixture of vodka and lime.
lavatory
random shots
Flying over my home airport: Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) short after departing from Macau
There was a thank you speech by the pilot during final approach to Taipei, which thank you the support of everyone over the 2 years of preparation of this new airline, it was touchy, everyone onboard gave a round of applause after the speech!
The loading of the flight was about 75%, but what I know is that the loading was below 10% after the day of inauguration…..it's rather unfair to make such conclusion as the current situation is tough for every industry, especially for the aviation.
others
A shot in the rear of the aircraft after landing.
The founder of STARLUX Airline: Mr. Cheung, was giving signature to passengers. He was the captain of the next departure to Macau. Let me give you some background of STARLUX Airlines, the founder of STARLUX Airlines is actually the son of the founder of EVA Air, and was once being the CEO of EVA Air, but due to some reason, he was forced to leave EVA Air and founded STARLUX Airlines a year after.
There were several souvenirs from the inaugural flight and I believe they will be part of my precious memories in the sky with aviation!
Hi Steven,
Thanks for sharing this very cool inaugural flight on Star Lux. Initial reports are, like you felt, pretty good. I wonder what routes they're going to announce past the initial set. It'll be something to look forward.
Thanks again!
The next route should be Cebu in the Philippines. But I guess STARLUX would delay their announcement schedule of their next routes due to the coronavirus these days.....
Wow, great report and thanks so much for sharing this special inaugural flight with us! I really hope that Starlux can make it work despite the incredibly challenging environment in Asia right now. Terrible luck with the Coronavirus outbreak right as the new airline is starting out. They seem to offer a fantastic product in both classes. I hope I get an opportunity to check them out soon. The cabins are beautiful and so are your photos.
Thanks again for sharing!
Hi Steven,
Thanks for sharing this very special look at the inaugural MFM-TPE Starlux service. I’ve seen some J reviews of Starlux, but am interested to find out what Y looks like on this luxury carrier.
I have to agree with your assessment of Starlux’s challenges with one very good (BR) hometown competitor, and one good (CI) hometown competitor. But like you, I hope they succeed and bring something different to the table for the flying masses.
Starlux’s cabin looks nice — and the plane must still have that new plane smell we all so love.
I’m surprised to hear this. When I flew TPE-HKG last summer with CI in Y (actually, sitting in their A350 PE seat, but with Y service), there was a meal service similar to what you had on Starlux. Perhaps things have changed since then.
That said, catering looks very decent for a 90-minute jaunt like this.
Ouch! Although, as you suggested, not a big surprise in this part of the world in the early days of 2020. It seems like one big punch after another to carriers in the region.
Some great memories, and very cool that they provided certificates so you can remember it all the more. Thanks again for sharing.
Cheers!
Hey, I think the others already pretty much what is there to say. Still I want to thank you for sharing your report on this very special flight with all of us. It will be interesting to see how Starlux develops (as the "Emirates of Taiwan"), though it's a pity that they have to start in such a challenging time. Otherwise, they seem like an airline I would want to try some time in the future.
Thanks for sharing it with us!
I also like it very much! The colours just match with everything!
I hope Starlux can fly higher and have a sustainable business!
Seems like another great airline in the make by the Taiwanese, however I'm curious to how well they are going to compete with the other two major Taiwanese airlines, but thanks for sharing this report with us!