The seventh airline in the world to fly the A380 mega jumbo (China Southern) have announced their  launch routes and dates ( (Thanks to Airliner Route). The  Guangzhou [CAN] based airline will start with:

1. Beijing [PEK] – Guangzhou [CAN] 

Launch date: 17th October, 2011
Distance: 1876 km (1166miles)

Outward flight: CZ3000

PEK dep 10:00h CAN arr: 13:15

The plane will be on the ground for two hours 45 minutes before returning.

Return flight: CZ 3999

CAN dep: 16:00

PEK arr: 19:15

Listed fare: $297 each way in Economy and $644 in First Class.

Flights are currently only being operated until the 26th of October

Significantly, this will be the first A380 domestic service in the world. 747s were used on some US and Japanese domestic sectors in the past. In fact a special 747 variant the 747-400D was created for the Japanese market with a maximum seating of 568 passengers in 2-classed  or 660 passengers in a single-class configuration. The China Southern configuration with 506 seats will have 506 seats.

There is currently a train that does the same trip in 20 hours and a high speed train line is being built which is planned to open in 2012 which will reduce train travel times to about 6-7 hours.

2. Beijing [PEK] – Shanghai Pu Dong [PVG] 

Launch date: 27th October, 2011

Distance: 1098 km (700 miles)

Outward flight: CZ6000

PEK dep 10:00h CAN arr: 12:15

The plane will be on the ground for two hours 45 minutes before returning to Beijing.

Return flight: CZ 3999

CAN dep: 15:00

PEK arr: 17:25

Listed fare: $320 each way in Economy and $620 in First Class.

Flights are currently only being operated until the 29th of October.

Significantly the first Beijing-Shanghgai flights are operating at the same time as ANA’s first 787 flights from Tokyo to Hong Kong!

I am trying to work out how to incorporate these flights into my schedule! I am determined to have flown an A380 flight with every airline who deploys it by the end of 2011. I have flown three- four to go!

Prior to fit out

China Southern Airlines has completed initial test flights for its first Airbus A380 aircraft. The airline is buying five.The plane entered the skies for its final test flight during the week at the Airbus facilities in Hamburg.



The plane has been painted and had its cabin fully fitted out.

More advanced tests will be held in Hamburg before the plane flies on to Toulouse in France for final preparation for delivery to the airline. October?

China Southern Airlines will become the seventh operator of the A380 later this year.
#1 Singapore  - I flew their A380 from Singapore to Melbourne in November, 2009
#2 Emirates – My flight was in September 2010 from Auckland to Sydney
#3 Qantas- My QF A380 experience was July 2010
#4 Air France – I fly them in October, 2011
#5 Lufthansa I aim to fly theirs in November 2011
#6 Korean I fly theirs in November 2011

The 7th airline in the world to get their 380 will be China Southern.

One of their planes rolled out of the paint shop this week.  It will go back into the hangers for more work, apparently, before delivery later in the year.

The Airline’s layout has been released. They will have 506 seats across all classes (Air France has 516 or 538, Lufthansa 526,  Emirates 489/517, Singapore 471, Qantas 450 and Korean 407):

• First Class, 1-2-1 layout, is located on the lower deck.
• Business Class, situated on the upper deck, is 1-2-1
• 428 Economy seats  configured as 3-4-3 on the main lower deck with ten rows on the upper deck at the rear arranged 2-4-2. This is similar to Singapore Airlines A380 arrangement. 

China Southern is expected to start the plane on the Beijing – Paris run.