News
StarLux to lease 10 wide bodies and 14 A320neo
March 9th 2018
Evergreen Group heir and former EVA Airways chairman, Chang Kuo-wei, will apply for a business licence in Taiwan, followed by an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) application, for StarLux Airlines later this month, an airline spokesman has announced. Read More »
The start-up is hoping to launch revenue services in 2020, initially linking Taiwan with destinations in Northeast and Southeast Asia, before adding long-haul routes to the U.S.
StarLux this week revealed that it is looking to lease 10 wide bodies and 14 A320neo for its initial requirements. Insiders are suggesting the wide bodies will be B787-9s. StarLux is hoping to sign the contract for the 14 A320neo in the first half of this year.
The airline set up its headquarters in Taipei’s Neihu District last August and has since recruited more than 100 employees. Chang Kuo-wei announced plans to start StarLux in July 2016 after he was ousted as chairman of EVA Air in a boardroom coup.
He became chairman of EVA in January 2013, but when his father, Evergreen Group founder, Chang Jung-Fa, died in January 2016, a succession war erupted among the children of Chang’s wives. Kuo-wei lost the chairmanship and was replaced by EVA stalwart, Steve Lin.
On March 1, Taiwan’s regulators made it easier to establish a new airline in Taiwan. The new regulations require aspiring carriers to show funding of at least NT$6 billion and a minimum paid-in capital of NT$4 billion. Industry insiders and Taiwanese media have dubbed the revision the “Chang Kuo-wei exemption”.
