The delivery of more Boeing 787 Dreamliner to China Southern is helping the carrier to move forward the opening of its much expected Guangzhou-New Zealand route.
WELLINGTON – China Southern Airlines has moved forward the deployment of its new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft on its Guangzhou-Auckland route, expanding both cargo capacity and passenger numbers, the airline announced earlier this week.
According to Xinhua, China Southern is now ready to start flying its Boeing 787 to Auckland from October 28, ahead of the previously announcement that it would only start to serve the New Zealand metropolis from December 4. A second China Southern Airlines Dreamliner would service the route for the peak summer period between early December to March 1, when the number of flights would increase from seven to 10 weekly flights.
“The announcement of the change to the 787 Dreamliner aircraft immediately provides us with almost 5 percent growth in seat capacity per year. This, coupled with the additional three services per week in the summer peak season, again signals strong growth for the industry from Chinese arrivals,” Glenn Wedlock, Auckland Airport general manager aeronautical commercial, said in the statement.
“Equally, the Dreamliners are much more fuel efficient which makes the services more profitable and more beneficial in terms of environmental impact.”
China Southern’s Boeing 787 was the first to have a first class cabin, which would have four seats, while business class would have 24 and economy 200 seats.
China Southern Airlines also announced that New Zealanders would be allowed to transit in Guangzhou for 72 hours without a visa, an increase from the previously tolerance of 24 hours. The new regulation allowing for a visa-free 72-hour stay will get into application from August.
Mike Ma, China Southern Airlines general manager New Zealand declared that the new visa waiver would give travellers more value for money as they could fully experience the city on their way to another destination.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
