Premium airline with low-cost fares: Star Flyer adds Taipei–Kyushu and Nagoya routes

▲Star Flyer to launch new regular direct flights from next winter.

Reported by Yu Jiayun / Taipei

Star Flyer, a Japanese airline, recently announced on its official website that starting from the 2018 winter season, it will add new direct flights between Taipei and Kitakyushu, Taipei and Fukuoka, as well as Taipei and Nagoya, with plans to operate one flight per day.The detailed flight schedule will be announced in mid-2018. Since entering Taiwan in May 2016, Star Flyer has been operating charter flights; the upcoming introduction of regular services will provide Taiwanese travelers with more direct flight options to Japan.

In the press release, Star Flyer stated that due to Japan’s declining domestic population and increasing number of foreign tourists, it is shifting air transport demand from domestic to international routes, and plans to re-enter the international scheduled flight market in the long term.

Currently, Star Flyer is the only airline offering direct flights from Taiwan to Kitakyushu, and is known as a “boutique” carrier. With fewer seats, it provides more spacious cabins. Though its fares are close to those of low-cost carriers, it offers complimentary light meals on board and 20 kilograms of free checked baggage, making it quite attractive to travelers and adding further competition to Taiwan’s Japan-bound aviation market. Before the launch of regular flights, the general agent, Yongli Enterprise, said it will operate additional charter flights to Nagoya by the end of this year, and another to Kitakyushu in February next year.