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- The founder of Starlux Airlines flew to an airport to personally apologize to passengers.
- Chang Kuo-wei went to Tokyo's Narita airport following the delays and cancellations.
- Passengers were stuck overnight at the terminal on May 6, according to Taiwan News.
The founder of a Taiwanese airline flew to an airport to personally apologize to passengers who got stuck there overnight after a flight was delayed and canceled, Taiwan News reported.
Chang Kuo-wei, chairman of Starlux Airlines, went to Tokyo Narita Airport in Japan the next morning after the flight was canceled on May 6, according to news site Focus Taiwan.
One flight was scheduled to depart at 3:45 p.m. but was delayed due to strong winds, Taiwan News reported. At about 5:30 p.m. Starlux moved passengers to another flight.
Sky Chen, one of the passengers, said on Facebook that they boarded at about 7 p.m. However, another flight crew then had to be found, meaning the departure was pushed back until after 11 p.m., per the report.
Passengers were kept on the plane until almost midnight, when the flight was then canceled. They were told they had to remain overnight in the airport terminal and were kept on the plane until sleeping bags arrived at 1 a.m., according to Taiwan News.
The departure time for the replacement flight was initially 6 a.m and then 8 a.m. on May 7, but passengers weren't given vouchers for food or drinks, per the report.
Chang Kuo-wei, founder of the airline that started flying in 2020, flew to Narita that morning to apologize to passengers.
The former chairman of Eva Air, another Taiwanese carrier, was seen in a video filmed by one saying that one flight had been delayed due to "really strong winds."
The second flight was delayed by an aircraft maintenance check and then the flight crew exceeding their permitted working hours, the chairman told passengers. Despite a night curfew being waived by the airport, he said immigration officers had then finished work so the airline was forced to wait until the following morning.
As well as operating flights on routes in Asia, Starlux began flying from Taipei to Los Angeles in April. Conde Nast Traveler described it as a luxury airline with "lofty ambitions to become a powerhouse across the Pacific."
Reviewing the business class cabin on the Airbus A350 used for the LA route, the publication said Starlux's "precise attention to detail sets the carrier apart from others — down to the airline-branded toilet paper."
Starlux Airlines didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours.