China Southern Airlines plans to enter the Ethiopian market in October, launching flights to the capital Addis Ababa.
Service from Guangzhou via Changsha will operate twice a week from Oct. 12 using Boeing 787-9 aircraft, the carrier has confirmed. The route will expand China Southern’s African network and introduce further competition for traffic between Guangzhou and Addis Ababa, which Ethiopian Airlines already serves nonstop.
China Southern currently operates to Nairobi, Kenya, from both Guangzhou and Changsha. OAG Schedules Analyser data shows the airline is offering about 159,000 two-way seats between China and Africa during the summer 2026 season, up 51.5% from approximately 105,000 a year earlier. The increase makes it the third-largest operator in the market by capacity.
The new service comes as passenger demand between China and Africa continues to grow, while a large proportion of travelers still rely on connecting itineraries. According to Sabre Market Intelligence data, the China-Africa market generated an estimated 2.93 million two-way O&D passengers in 2025, up 36% from about 2.15 million in 2024. However, only about 525,000 passengers—or 17.9% of the market—traveled nonstop.
Ethiopian Airlines is the largest operator in the nonstop China-Africa market, offering about 632,000 two-way seats during summer 2026, up 6.2% year on year. It accounts for roughly 35% of total capacity. EgyptAir ranks second with approximately 323,000 seats and an 17.9% share, followed by China Southern with 8.8%. Air China is close behind with about 157,000 seats.
Overall, airlines are offering approximately 1.81 million two-way seats across 22 nonstop China-Africa airport pairs during summer 2026, up 5% from 1.72 million across 21 pairs a year earlier. Frequencies have increased 5.9%.
Guangzhou-Addis Ababa is already the largest individual route in the market by scheduled capacity, with Ethiopian Airlines offering about 238,000 two-way seats during summer 2026, up 12.4% from a year earlier. Addis Ababa-Beijing and Addis Ababa-Shanghai each have about 145,000 seats.
Sabre data indicates that Guangzhou was also the largest Chinese origin for Africa-bound O&D traffic in 2025, generating about 978,000 two-way passengers across the continent, up 34.7% year on year. Beijing generated approximately 656,000 passengers and Shanghai about 529,000.
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