Starlux Airlines receives Taiwan's first Airbus A350-1000

Taipei, Jan. 6 (CNA) Starlux Airlines became the first airline in Taiwan to take delivery of an Airbus A350-1000 aircraft when the wide-body plane with the Starlux livery arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday.

The aircraft, registered as B-58551, was delivered on Monday to a team led by Starlux Chairman Chang Kuo-wei (張國煒) at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France, the company said in a press release late Monday night.

The plane departed Toulouse at 2:10 p.m. Monday (local time), and landed at Taiwan's Taoyuan International Airport at around 10 a.m. Tuesday.

The aircraft is scheduled to begin service in February, and five more of the 18 A350-1000s Starlux has on order are expected to be delivered in 2026, the company said.

Starlux CEO Glenn Chai (翟健華) said the addition of the A350-1000 marks the airline's entry into the "larger, more competitive" long-haul market and will "play a crucial role" in expanding its North American and European network of destinations.

The A350-1000, currently the largest aircraft in Starlux's fleet, features 350 seats across four cabin classes and a maximum range of 15,600 kilometers, the company said.

With the latest addition, Starlux now operates 30 aircraft, which also include 10 A350-900s, six A330neos and 13 A321neos.

The only destinations it currently flies to outside of Asia are Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Ontario (California), and it will soon launch direct flights to Phoenix.

Though Starlux was the first Taiwanese airline to take delivery of the A350-1000, it is not the only local carrier interested in the plane.

Taiwan's two other major international carriers, China Airlines and EVA Air, have ordered 15 and 24 A350-1000s, respectively.