Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) has officially become the nation’s seventh international carrier after the Ministry of Transportation and Communications approved its application yesterday.
The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) last week forwarded Starlux’s application to the ministry for final approval after the carrier passed four of the five certification procedures stated in the Regulations of Civil Air Transport Enterprise (民用航空運輸業管理規則).
They included procedures the company was obligated to complete before and after it filed the application, as well as the CAA’s review of its paperwork and aircraft tests.
Photo courtesy of Starlux Airlines
The fifth and final stage was approval by Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍).
The CAA will be in charge of issuing an air operator’s certificate to the airline following the ministry’s approval, Lin said.
Although it has obtained an air operator’s certificate, Starlux still has to apply for an airline call sign from the International Civil Aviation Organization, as well as an airline code from the International Air Transport Association, the company said.
The airline code is used to label the flight number in the ticket-booking system, it said.
Starlux also needs to obtain air route certificates from the CAA to offer flights to Macau, Vietnam’s Da Nang City and Malaysia’s Penang state — three destinations that it plans to launch simultaneously on Jan. 23.
The company has not announced when travelers can start booking tickets for the three inaugural flights.
Media reports had said that Starlux chairman Chang Kuo-wei (張國煒), who is a licensed pilot, could operate one of the inaugural flights himself.
However, Starlux spokesman Nieh Kuo-wei (聶國維) said that it is not likely, as Jan. 23 would be the first day of the airline’s operation and Chang would be busy hosting guests.
“We will not engage in a price war with other airlines, even though we are a new carrier. By the time we launch our operations, the nation will be about to celebrate the Lunar New Year holiday and many people are scheduled to travel and return homeduring that period. We will consider offering discounts from time to time after the launch of our services,” he said.
The company has leased 10 Airbus A321neo aircraft, with the first one arriving at the end of October.
The second and third aircraft are to arrive this month and in the middle of next month.
Deliveries of all 10 aircraft should be completed by 2022.
Starlux this year also signed a contract to purchase 17 Airbus A350 aircraft, which are to be delivered between 2021 and 2024.
It is scheduled to launch flight services to the US using the A350 aircraft in 2022.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
RSS