logo
New premium flights launched between Taipei and Inland Empire

New premium flights launched between Taipei and Inland Empire

Yahoo05-06-2025
Taiwan-based Starlux Airlines has launched nonstop service between Taipei and Ontario International Airport, its fourth destination in the United States and second in Southern California.
The inaugural flight landed Friday at Ontario at 5:05 p.m. and was greeted with a water cannon salute. The route is part of the airline's continued U.S. expansion, following launches in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.
'This new route is an important milestone for STARLUX,' said Walter Liang, chief passenger commercial officer. 'Ontario's strategic location within the Greater Los Angeles area positions us to better connect the diverse communities of Southern California to and from Asia in luxury and comfort.'
Liang said the route gives travelers 14 flights weekly across two airports in Southern California.
The greater Los Angeles area is home to more than 2.5 million Asian Americans, including large Taiwanese, Filipino, Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean populations, company officials said.
Starlux hopes the new service will provide greater access to its network of more than two dozen destinations in Asia.
The airline will operate Airbus A350-900 aircraft on the route four times a week: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
One flight that will depart Ontario around 11 p.m. will arrive in Taipei around 4:15 a.m., two days later due to time change. Some return flights will depart in the evening from Taipei and arrive in Ontario the same day, but hours earlier than the departure, at least according to local time.
During the inaugural landing, the gate-side launch ceremony included remarks by Ontario airport CEO Atif Elkadi and the director general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Los Angeles, as well as officials from Starlux and Alaska Airlines.
Starlux promotes its international service as a premium experience, offering four cabin classes and amenities such as Michelin-rated meals, aromatherapy and custom seating.
'With our new service to Ontario, we continue to redefine luxury air travel,' Liang said.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Costco's Pepsi-to-Coke switch goes viral as members sound off
Costco's Pepsi-to-Coke switch goes viral as members sound off

New York Post

time15 minutes ago

  • New York Post

Costco's Pepsi-to-Coke switch goes viral as members sound off

Costco's decision to switch from Pepsi to Coca-Cola became a viral conversation when the membership warehouse club announced it was making the swap from one carbonated soft drink to the other. Members were mixed on social media as the swap was finalized by Tuesday, with some saying on a Reddit thread that 'Pepsi tastes like flat Coca Cola' and 'Hot dogs don't taste the same anymore without Pepsi.' Advertisement 'If this isn't a sign of the apocalypse then I don't know what is,' another person posted on X. Others, however, welcomed the change, which began rolling out across Costco warehouses in early July, posting on X that 'Coke is so much better.' The company previously noted that all of its food courts will offer Coca-Cola products by the fall. Costco CEO Ron Vachris said in January the company would be 'converting our food court fountain business back over to Coca-Cola' this summer. The company has offered Pepsi products since 2013. Advertisement 3 Costco's food courts have started switching from Pepsi to Coca-Cola. Getty Images 3 Costco members had mixed reactions to the soda switch. AFP via Getty Images 3 The rollout of Coca-Cola products began in early July. jetcityimage – Food courts are one of the company's many ancillary businesses, which are credited for encouraging members to make trips to the warehouse retailer more often. Advertisement Manhattan-based psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert told FOX Business that this struck a nerve with so many because they saw it as more than a simple soda swap. 'Coke vs. Pepsi has always been a cultural dividing line, like Yankees vs. Red Sox or Apple vs. PC,' he said. 'People attach memories, family traditions, and even a sense of who they are to a brand. So when Costco suddenly took sides, it triggered a reaction far bigger than soda itself.'

CNBC's The China Connection newsletter: New bets, old worries
CNBC's The China Connection newsletter: New bets, old worries

CNBC

time16 minutes ago

  • CNBC

CNBC's The China Connection newsletter: New bets, old worries

Even if AI and robots offer an exciting future, the daily grind for many in China holds more worries. Among the trickle of gloomy headlines this summer, one stirred so much online attention that a state-run social media account published a commentary on Saturday to allay fears. The concern was that a court ruling kicking in on Sept. 1 would force struggling businesses to buy national insurance for all employees, amid frequent talk of pay cuts and merciless competition. But in reality, the ruling isn't something new. "It's not that the government changed the policy, it's that [many businesses] hadn't followed the policy," said Wen Biao, general manager at Shenzhen-based Qianhe Technology Logistics, in Mandarin remarks translated by CNBC. It's a grey area that wasn't enforced, enabling workers to take home more pay or businesses to spend less on labor. China's "social" insurance program includes health and retirement coverage, which means the cash is locked up for medical events or retirement decades away. The renewed attention has fueled discussions on low wages and frequent overtime work, adding to depressed sentiment. In late July, the jobs outlook fell to a record low, according to a quarterly survey by China's central bank. That prompted Morgan Stanley to cut its reading on social sentiment in China to the lowest level since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Consumer sentiment in the U.S. has also deteriorated, according to a preliminary read for August compiled by the University of Michigan. While American consumers are not bracing for the worst, as they were at the escalation in trade tensions in April, many still expect inflation and unemployment to worsen, the report said. Trade tensions persist, despite the U.S. and China last week extending a trade truce until mid-November. But that still leaves tariffs of around 55% on most Chinese exports to its largest trading partner. China's stronger-than-expected export growth has obscured insufficient domestic demand, said Bruce Pang, adjunct associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong business school. It hasn't taken long for those issues to appear. In just the last several days, data releases for July showed that new bank loans unexpectedly dropped for the first time in 20 years. Retail sales, industrial and investment figures missed expectations — underscoring a still unresolved real estate slump — that Chinese Premier Li Qiang acknowledged in a government meeting Monday. Li called for more effective measures to address the property market, stabilize market expectations and ensure social stability. China's property and construction sector once accounted for more than a quarter of China's GDP and is still the main driver of household wealth. Local governments have also struggled financially after losing revenue from land sales to developers. To address the real estate challenge, Luo Zhiheng, chief economist at Yuekai Securities, proposed Monday that the central government create a 2 trillion yuan ($280 billion) fund to finish building qualified real estate projects. He also called for more financial support for local governments. Despite the headwinds, Beijing has kept its official growth target at around 5% for the year — a goal Premier Li reiterated this week. Pang from the Chinese University of Hong Kong said the economy is still able to achieve the goal, despite some loss of momentum. In his view, business confidence was worse last year, and now it's just a matter of time for policy to take effect. The challenge is that the external situation may disrupt those plans, he said, noting that any additional stimulus hinges on uncertainty around U.S.-China trade tensions and a possible Federal Reserve interest rate cut. But as China's domestic economy slogs through a transition away from real estate, its companies are turning overseas. For Wen of Qianhe Technology, his main business in logistics and overseas e-commerce has been hit by the U.S.-China tensions. He doesn't expect a resurgence of orders, unless tariffs drop significantly before the trade truce expires in November. "It's not just China; the entire world is in a state of unrest," he said. But he's still upbeat. To him, the tensions have just sped up a generational opportunity for Chinese businesses to invest in factories abroad — much like how Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan firms once shifted manufacturing to the mainland after China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. James Peng, CEO of said that the robotaxi company is racing towards profitability as its Gen-7 robotaxi gets cheaper to make. Joe Ngai, Greater China chairman at McKinsey, said Chinese companies are increasingly producing products that have a global market, like Labubus, TikTok, and Black Myth: Wukong — but there's some way to go before they become 'truly global'. Robin Xing, chief China economist at Morgan Stanley, said investors are just shrugging off China's soft data numbers and policy laws. He added that the upcoming fourth Plenum meeting will be much more important than a conventional cyclical parliamentary meeting. Shein's IPO saga continues. The fast-fashion giant is considering moving its base back to China from Singapore as it tries to court Beijing's approval for its long-awaited IPO, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. Tencent has enough AI training chips. That's what its President Martin Lau told investors last week, after the company reported AI-driven improvements helped boost marketing services revenue by 20% in the second quarter. China's electric car investments ramp up. For the first time, the industry has invested more in factories overseas than at home, according to a report published Monday by U.S.-based consulting firm Rhodium Group. China and Hong Kong stocks inched higher amid mixed trading in the region on Wednesday as investors parsed China's loan prime rate decision. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index climbed 0.19%, while the mainland's CSI 300 added 0.99% after China left its key lending rates steady in August for a third straight month, matching market forecasts. The mainland benchmark is up over 8% year to date, data from LSEG 27: July industrial profits

Even Russia has had enough of some Chinese products
Even Russia has had enough of some Chinese products

Business Insider

timean hour ago

  • Business Insider

Even Russia has had enough of some Chinese products

Russia's trade boom with China is losing steam, with a top Moscow official warning that the country's markets are already oversupplied with some Chinese goods. "In the current year, we are recording a certain decline in mutual trade," said Anton Alikhanov, Russia's industry and trade minister, on Tuesday at a business forum. "We also note the gradual saturation of the market with Chinese products in certain market segments, as well as internal economic processes both in Russia and in China," Alikhanov said. Sanctions and volatility in commodity markets have also weighed on flows, he said. From record highs to slowdown Trade between the two countries surged after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as China filled the gap left by Western brands and Moscow diverted energy exports eastward. Turnover in Russia-China trade rose 29% in 2022 and 26% in 2023, reaching a record $245 billion in 2024. But growth slowed to just 2% last year, and in the first seven months of 2025, trade fell about 8% year-on-year to $125.8 billion. Alikhanov warned that the rapid growth of past years is unlikely to return. "In the medium term, we should expect more moderate growth rates of mutual trade than before," he said. Chinese companies have dominated Russia's consumer markets, especially cars, where they quickly took the majority of new sales after Western firms exited. But the wave of imports has also raised unease in Moscow. This year, the Kremlin increased tariffs on Chinese-made cars — a move mirroring protective trade steps in the US and Europe against Chinese overcapacity. That step has already slowed flows: Exports of all Chinese goods to Russia dropped 8.4% in the first half of 2025. Alikhanov suggested that future cooperation should focus less on consumer imports and more on industrial investment. "I believe that in the long term, the most successful initiatives will be those that involve investment in joint production, technology transfer and the introduction of advanced technologies," he said. Russia's energy lifeline falters But it's not just consumer trade that is under strain — Russia's energy exports to China have also come under pressure due to lower global oil prices and tighter US sanctions on tankers carrying Russian crude. That slowdown is rippling through the wider economy, with GDP growing just 1.1% in the second quarter — down from 1.4% in the first quarter and sharply lower than 4% a year earlier. "Falling Chinese demand for Russian raw materials — particularly crude oil — has intensified fiscal pressure on Moscow by eroding the tax base tied to energy exports, a key pillar of federal revenues," wrote Maciej Kalwasiński, a senior fellow at the China Department at the Centre for Eastern Studies in Poland, last week. He added that the overall contraction in bilateral trade exerts a "tangible negative impact" on the Russian economy. "This further strains Russia's ability to sustain wartime spending, especially since Russia's economic growth rate has slowed sharply since the beginning of 2025," wrote Kalwasiński.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store