Taiwanese start-up carrier Starlux has converted four of its Airbus A350-1000s to the smaller A350-900.

Taiwanese start-up carrier Starlux has converted four of its Airbus A350-1000s to the smaller A350-900.

The airline had placed orders for 17 A350s in March this year, part of a fleet agreement which also includes a batch of leased Airbus A321neos.

But Starlux has partially retreated from the A350-1000 having originally committed to 12 of the variant, cutting its order to eight.

It will instead take four more A350-900s, bringing its total of the smaller model up from five to nine, according to Airbus's latest backlog revision.

Starlux has been planning to put the A350s into service on routes from Taipei to European and North American destinations.

The changes mean Airbus has accumulated orders for 176 A350-1000s – of which 32 have been delivered – plus 737 A350-900s.

Starlux received its first aircraft, an A321neo, towards the end of October. It plans to commence operations in January, operating the single-aisle type on Asian routes.