CHIANG MAI, 23 January 2024: Taiwanese airline Starlux launched direct flights from Taipei to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand last week, competing with three other airlines on the popular route for holiday travellers.
The airline already flies to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, offering 13 flights weekly. On 18 January, it introduced three weekly flights (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday) to the popular tourist destination in northern Thailand from Taipei (TPE).
However, schedules posted on booking sites indicate the airline will schedule up to six flights weekly next week and four flights through mid-February to handle peak season traffic to Chiang Mai through to Chinese New Year on 10 February and then cutting back frequency to three weekly flights until the end of March.
Using an A321neo with business and economy classes, flight JX751 departs Taipei at 1255 and arrives in Chiang Mai at 1615. The return flight JX752 departs Chiang Mai at 1715 and arrives in Taipei at 2210.
The airline competes head-on with Thai AirAsia, EVA Air and China Airlines, all serving the Taipei-Chiang Mai route. The roundtrip fare during the year will average USD240, dropping from a January high of USD309 and a low of USD197 during February due to the high volume of seats on the route but levelling out at around USD200 until June.
Tourism officials in Chiang Mai are optimistic, estimating at least 6 million visitors this year, possibly hitting 15 million if source markets in Asia continue to show a high recovery rate.
