China Southern’s Dreamliner May Be First to NZ

China Southern Airlines will deploy one of its new Boeing 787 Dreamliners on its Guangzhou-Auckland route this summer as part of a major route upgrade in the region.

“We think the 228-seat Dreamliner is ideal for the Auckland route and have decided to bring it on line on December 4 to see how it goes,” said China Southern Regional General Manager Australia New Zealand Henry He.

“The new flights, which are on sale now for the summer season, will lift our direct NZ services from daily to 10 a week.”

Mr He said the regional fleet upgrade had seen new Airbus A330-200s flying to Brisbane and Perth and the latest A330-300s begin operating into Sydney, with Melbourne receiving an upgrade later this year. Sydney will also receive one of the airline’s five new A380 Superjumbos in October.

“These aircraft are the latest from Airbus and offer fully lie-flat seats in Business Class and seat back TVs throughout while the sleek Dreamliner is a whole new generation of aircraft from Boeing, offering all the latest mod-cons and a three-cabin layout with four seats in First Class, 24 Business seats and an Economy cabin with 200 seats for a total capacity of 228.”

China Southern has received two of 10 Dreamliners it has on order and both have begun flying from its Guangzhou hub in southern China to Beijing and Shanghai. When they begin flying internationally they will offer services on the airline’s popular Canton Route to Vancouver, Paris and London as well as Auckland.

China Southern was the first aviation company in the world to own and operate both the 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus A380 superjumbo aircraft concurrently.