ROUTES ASIA: China Southern to Launch Flights to Auckland

China Southern Airlines has confirmed the launch of a new flight between Guangzhou and Auckland, the first direct link by a mainland Chinese operator to New Zealand. The carrier was originally planning to operate via Melbourne, but as revealed by The HUB earlier this year, it will now offer a direct service. The inaugural flight is scheduled to take place on April 8 and will be flown by an Airbus A330-300, although the carrier’s president and Chief Executive officer, Tan Wan’geng has already suggested that the frequency could be increased even before the first service has taken place with the three times weekly schedule potentially seeing a “gradual increase of flight frequency” as the market matures.

Source: IATA BSP (February 2010 – January 2011)

Air New Zealand already offers direct flights from Auckland to Beijing and Shanghai using Boeing 777-200ERs on the twice and three times weekly links, respectively. It accounted for over 60% of the traffic between the two countries in the year ending January 2011 with Cathay Pacific Airways and Singapore Airlines also carrying more than 10,000 passengers via Hong Kong and Singapore. China Southern Airlines has a 5.9 per cent share of the traffic operating via Sydney, with onward connections by Air New Zealand.

“I see great opportunities for closer tourism links between our two countries,” added Kevin Bowler, Chief Executive Officer, Tourism New Zealand. “New Zealand currently welcomes more than 123,000 visitors from China each year, making it New Zealand’s fourth-largest visitor market after Australia, the UK and USA. China is also one of New Zealand’s fastest growing visitor market and many New Zealand tourism businesses are excited about the future of tourism between our two countries.”