Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) is to start selling tickets today before launching services next month, president Glenn Chai (翟健華) said on Friday.
The carrier is to start flights to Macau, Malaysia’s Penang and Da Nang in Vietnam from Jan. 23, a day before next Lunar New Year’s Eve, aiming to tap into the busy holiday, Chai said.
The announcement came at a StarLux news conference in Taipei to introduce its business-class menu, which features Southeast Asian dishes by Michelin-star chef Lam Ming Kin (林明健).
The carrier, founded by former EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) chairman Chang Kuo-wei (張國煒), on Tuesday last week obtained operational approval from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
The flights on Jan. 23 are to take off at 7:30am, 7:40am and 9:20am respectively, StarLux said.
The carrier would offer three round-trip flights to Macau per day, two to Da Nang and one to Penang, it said.
Starlux has said it will focus on routes within Asia in the initial stages of its operations, but would expand to North American destinations from 2022, targeting high-end travelers.
Separately, Tigerair Taiwan Co (台灣虎航), a subsidiary of China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空), is to start trading on the Taipei Exchange’s Emerging Stock Board, with its shares valued at NT$41 apiece.
The debut would make it the first budget carrier to be listed on the local bourse.
Tigerair plans to shift its shares to the Taiwan Stock Exchange in the fourth quarter of next year, spokesman Bernard Hsu (許致遠) told the Taipei Times last week.
Additional reporting by Kao Shih-ching
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