Taiwan startup airline STARLUX Airlines has unveiled their new uniform and cabin designs. The event was titled “JX Style” and was held to officially introduce the new styles and features that the detail-oriented luxury airline intends to launch in 2020.
Business Class
The seating in STARLUX’s A321neos has been designed by BMW’s Designworks studio.
The atmosphere of STARLUX Business Class is comparatively more settled and tranquil, employing relatively dark and elegant colours to evoke the majesty of the galaxy. While the cushions and privacy dividers are a classical dark grey and rose gold, BMW’s exclusive color A72 Cashmere Silver adds a futuristic, hi-tech touch to the backshells. Each passenger is provided with his or her own 15.6″ 1080p inflight entertainment system screen, whilst seated in the first narrow-body airliner seat in Taiwan that can transform into an 82-inch flatbed.
Economy Class
Economy Class seating features bright and natural colours and ultra-thin seatbacks engineered to increase legroom. Every seat is equipped with a high-quality leather headrest. A personal entertainment system with a 10.1″ 720p screen is equipped for every seat. Below the screens, there are USB ports and single earphone ports. Free Wi-Fi with basic access is also provided.
Uniforms
STARLUX uniform collection for cabin and ground crews was designed by renowned Taiwan fashion designer Sean Yin.
For me, STARLUX is a luxury brand — not just another airline. I wanted to combine a classical airline look with modern touches to create chic but practical fashions, unlike anything that has been seen before.
Sean Yin
The collection combines fashion elements from the 40s and 50s with space-age accents, employing natural gold and space silver tones to simultaneously evoke elegance and state-of-the-art appointments. STARLUX employees with first-hand work experience contributed to the design of the new uniforms by providing opinions and suggestions.
The traditional pilots hats have been replaced by more casual caps, embroidered with the winglet pattern of the STARLUX logo. Both male and female cabin attendants will be carrying the same attaché case, which can hold an iPad, A4-sized files and can be worn either as a handbag or a crossbody bag.
Male airport agents and cabin crew will be wearing standing-collar shirts without neckties. Embroidery is used on many items. Breathable mesh fabrics are spliced into strategic sections of the uniforms. An airport agent can choose between pants and a skirt or between a suit vest and a suit jacket; a ground handling agent can choose between pants and shorts.
To remind the front-line staff of their commitment to safety, badges with the slogan “Safety is our attitude” are displayed on the uniforms of pilots, engineering and maintenance staff as well as ground handling staff.
Future Plan
The first A321neo will be delivered at the end of this month with registration B-58201; two more will come later this year, with another 7 being delivered in 2020. Between 2021 and 2022, the airline is planning to acquire 12 A350-1000s and 5 A350-900s.
STARLUX is planning to operate its inaugural flight on January 23rd 2020, flying to Macau, Da Nang, and Penang. Later more regional routes will be opened and intercontinental routes will start when the A350s arrive. K.W. Chang, Founder and Chairman of STARLUX, also indicates that the airline has the intention to buy Airbus A330neo’s.
Bottom Line
It is great to see another airline chooses to install full-flat Business Class seats on narrow-body aircraft. With increasing competition from low-cost carriers, starting another full service airline is risky. Although top cabin products are offered and delicate details are designed, we will wait and see how customers respond when the airline starts selling tickets in December.
How do you feel about STARLUX? Do you think they are going to succeed?