Starlux Airlines (JX, Taipei Taoyuan) has signed a TWD3.82 billion Taiwan new dollar (USD123 million) syndicated loan agreement with ten Taiwanese banks to fund its purchase of A350-900s, which will be deployed on routes to destinations in Asia and North America, the carrier revealed on September 13.
The eighteen 306-seater A350s “will be delivered in ten batches,” according to the statement, with the first two to arrive by the end of 2022. They “are expected to be put into operation on Asian routes in the first quarter of 2023, while the first North American route, Taipei Taoyuan-Los Angeles International, will open in April.”
The syndicated loan was 52% oversubscribed by the banks, which are led by the publicly listed Taiwan Cooperative Bank, the airline said. It is the first such loan it has taken, its expansion until now mostly financed by the company itself and its chairman Chang Kuo Wei.
Starlux had already announced the syndicated loan in July, naming four commercial banks at the time that would participate. Now, Taiwan Cooperative has been joined by Hua Nan Bank and Taiwan Enterprise Bank as “co-hosts”, with First Commercial Bank, Land Bank of Taiwan, Agricultural Bank of Taiwan, Bank of Taiwan, Chang Hwa Commercial Bank, Shanghai Commercial and Savings Bank, and Bank of Kaohsiung joining in with the lending.
According to the ch-aviation fleets module, the carrier has eighteen of the A350s to be delivered, to add to ten A321-200NXs (with one more to be delivered) and three A330-900Ns (with four more to be delivered).
The “joint loan signing ceremony for the first self-purchased A350-900 widebody passenger aircraft of Starlux Airlines” was held at the carrier’s headquarters on the day of the statement. “The first A350 is expected to be delivered in October and will be used for the expansion of long-haul routes [...] and to enhance the international reputation of Starlux Airlines,” Chang said.
In related news, Starlux Airlines will increase its destinations served in Japan to five as the country loosens its stringent Covid-19 restrictions. Leisure destinations Okinawa Naha and Sapporo Chitose will join Fukuoka, Osaka Kansai, and Tokyo Narita from late October. The carrier has also confirmed Da Nang in Viet Nam to supplement its network.
