Starlux, Qantas, Air France Offer New Long-Haul Services

Starlux Airlines, Qantas and Air France are each adding new long-haul markets during the northern summer 2023 season using widebody aircraft.

Taipei-Los Angeles

Starlux is opening a new route to North America later this month with nonstop flights to Los Angeles (LAX), becoming the Taiwanese carrier’s first destination outside Asia.

The airline, which began commercial operations in 2020, has been seeking to launch long-haul flights to the US from for Taipei Taoyuan International (TPE) for more than two years since securing a foreign air carrier permit from the US Transportation Department in April 2021.

After twice pushing back the planned start date, the inaugural Taipei-Los Angeles service will take off on April 26 using Airbus A350-900s. Flights will initially be offered five times per week, rising to daily from June.

Starlux took delivery of its second A350-900 in early January, three months after receiving its first. The carrier put its first A350-900 into service in January on routes from Taipei to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi and Macau. It has since added service to Tokyo Narita and Okinawa Naha.

Taipei-Los Angeles is already served by EVA Air twice a day with Boeing 777-300ERs and by China Airlines 12 times per week using a mix of 777-300ERs and A350-900s.

Starlux’s entry to the 10,919-km (5,896-nm) sector will see it offer almost 4,300 two-way weekly seats once frequencies become daily. By early July, data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser shows that Starlux will have a 17.2% capacity share of the market, behind EVA at 55.2% and China Airlines at 27.6%.

In total, there will be about 24,800 two-way weekly seats between Taipei and Los Angeles during the peak summer season, compared with 14,100 in summer 2019, before the pandemic.

Looking at the flow of passengers during 2019, Sabre Market Intelligence figures show that point-to-point traffic from Taiwan’s capital to Los Angeles amounted to 139,307 one-way passengers. About 224,159 traveled to LAX from points behind TPE, while 23,694 flew from TPE to destinations beyond LAX.

Melbourne-Jakarta

Qantas is opening a new nonstop link between Melbourne (MEL) and Jakarta (CGK)—the airline’s third new international route out of the Australian airport since borders reopened.

Flights on the 5,208-km (2,812-nm) sector will be offered three times per week from April 16 using Airbus A330-200s. The service will become the carrier’s second to the Indonesian capital alongside its long-standing daily operations from Sydney.

The launch will see Qantas increase seats to and from Jakarta by more than 6,600 per month, which it said would support growing trade and tourism links between Australia and Indonesia. During 2018-19, two-way trade in goods and services was worth A$17.8 billion ($12.7 billion), making Indonesia Australia’s 13th largest trading partner.

The Australian state of Victoria has a large Indonesian community and about 2,400 Indonesian-born people have migrated there since 2011. In total around 23% of Australia’s Indonesian migrants choose to live in Melbourne.

Qantas will therefore be targeting visiting friends and relatives (VFR) traffic on the new route, as well as two-way leisure passengers.

The oneworld alliance member will provide direct competition for SkyTeam’s Garuda Indonesia in the Melbourne-Jakarta market. The Indonesian airline currently offers two flights per week using A330-300s.

According to Sabre data, total O&D traffic between Melbourne and Jakarta totaled some 104,000 two-way passengers in 2019—about 52% of whom traveled nonstop. Singapore (SIN) was the largest one-stop connecting market, followed by Sydney (SYD) and Bali (DPS).

The planned launch of the Jakarta service will become Qantas’ third new international destination from Melbourne since pandemic restrictions were relaxed. The carrier began flights to Delhi (DEL) in August 2022, with operations to Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) starting in December.

Paris-Ottawa

Canada’s capital Ottawa will once again be connected nonstop to Europe in June when Air France begins flying from Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG).

Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier (YOW) has been without regular European flights for more than three years after Air Canada halted its London Heathrow (LHR) route in March 2020. The airport also had a summer season Frankfurt (FRA) service prior to the pandemic, but neither destination has returned to Air Canada’s network since international travel has resumed.

Air France’s service from Paris will commence on June 27, operating five times per week using three-class Airbus A330-200s. The SkyTeam member will also continue to offer a free bus service between Ottawa and Montreal-Trudeau (YUL), timed to facilitate connections with Air France flights to and from Paris.

Ottawa, located in the east of southern Ontario, is the fourth-largest city in Canada and home to a population of about 1.4 million people. Sabre data shows that the UK was the largest European market from the city in 2019, followed by France in second place. Total O&D traffic between Ottawa and Paris was about 27,994 two-way passengers during the year.

The addition of YOW will see Air France fly to five destinations in Canada from Paris during the summer 2023 season alongside Toronto Pearson (YYZ), Vancouver (YVR), Montreal and Quebec City (YQB).

Inaugurated in summer 2022, the seasonal Paris-Quebec City service will resume on May 2. There will be three weekly flights on Boeing 787-9s.

By mid-July, OAG data shows that Air France will be offering some 34,436 two-way weekly seats between France and Canada, up by about 28% on pre-pandemic levels.

In terms of total nonstop capacity between Europe and Canada, Air France will be the third-largest carrier, with a 7.2% market share. Air Canada is the largest with a 40.6% share, followed by Air Transat with 18.2%.