Starlux receives AOC, Far Eastern Transport goes out of business

December 13th 2019

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Starlux to commence flights on January 23 with bookings to open later this month. Read More »

On Tuesday, Taiwan’s regulator approved an air operator’s certificate (OAC) for Starlux, the new airline owned by Chang kuo-wei. He was ousted as chairman of the board of EVA Air several years ago in a bitter battle with several family members.

The airline will begin flights to Macau, Da Nang and Penang on January 23. Local media reported bookings for the flights will open in mid to late December. Although this is a narrow booking window, Starlux’s launch will be ahead of this year’s Chinese New Year travelling season, a high demand holiday period.

Starlux has not announced details of its flights, but a timetable filed with Amadeus and seen by Airline Route, stated Starlux would fly three times a day to Macau, double daily to Da Nang and daily to Penang. The tentative Taipei departure slots start at 07:25. The schedule indicates Starlux would need three aircraft excluding spares.

In October, Starlux received its first A321neo, piloted by Chang. The aircraft type will be the core of its short-haul fleet. The carrier intends to add A350s to its line-up for its long-haul network.

Starlux will not be filling a void left by the closure of Far Eastern Air Transport (FAT), which mostly flew domestically. Its only jet aircraft were MD-80s. FAT was going to lease 11 737 MAX 8s from September this year but the grounding of the type nullified the plan. In September, the airline said it was considering changing from MAX 8s to A321s, switching not only from Boeing to Airbus, but also up-gauging since the MAX 8’s equivalent Airbus aircraft is the A320.

FAT’s exit was announced on December 12 with effect today. Financial issues were cited as the reason for the airline’s closure. FAT was declared bankrupt in 2008 and stopped flying. It resumed services in 2011.

The Taipei City Government said it wanted to prohibit FAT chairman, Chang Kang-wei, from leaving Taiwan since FAT did not notify the authorities 60 days in advance that it would lay off staff, as was required by local law.