China Southern to Operate More Than 3,000 Daily Flights in 2023 IATA Summer Season

March 24, 2023 - During the 2023 IATA Summer Season which will last 217 days from March 26 to October 28, China Southern Air Holding Company Limited (including Xiamen Air) plans to operate 630,000 flights to 216 destinations, including 167 within China and 49 to international and regional (Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) destinations. 

In this new flight season, China Southern is expected to operate an average of more than 3,000 daily flights.

Increasing Capacity Input at Guangzhou and Beijing Hubs

China Southern will expand its route network and prioritize capacity input at its dual hubs at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and Beijing Daxing International Airport to key domestic destinations including Shanghai, Shenzhen, Urumqi, Wuhan, Changsha, Zhengzhou, Hainan, Chengdu, Hangzhou and Shenyang. It will also improve customer services to provide safe and convenient air travel experience to passengers.

At Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, China Southern will continue to build up its key Guangzhou hub and optimize the “Five Waves” of inbound and outbound flights to integrate marketing, products, services and route network to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area within a“four-hour air traffic circle”that spans major cities throughout China.

The Company will be increasing flights departing from Guangzhou to Chengdu, Lijiang, Yiwu and other domestic cities and launch the new“China Southern Air Shuttle”brand service to 10 destinations including Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Chengdu.

At Beijing Daxing International Airport, China Southern, the largest hub carrier, will make adjustments to its route network and flight schedules with“Four Waves”of inbound and outbound flights. It will also refine its air travel services and products to entice passengers to fly with China Southern to/from Beijing Daxing.

The Company will make changes to its flight schedules to optimize flights from Beijing Daxing to Guangzhou and Shenzhen. Beijing Daxing will see 16 daily flights departing for Guangzhou and 14 for Shenzhen at a one-flight-per-hour interval. Concurrently, flight frequencies from Beijing Daxing to Chengdu and Shanghai Pudong will be increased with more than 11 daily flights to Chengdu and 10 to Changsha.

At Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport, China Southern will increase flight frequencies to Wuhan, Taiyuan, Lijiang, Xishuangbanna and other domestic cities.

Concurrently, some stopover routes will be replaced by direct routes, such as the Shenzhen-Nanchang-Taiyuan route changed to a Shenzhen-Taiyuan route and the Shenzhen-Nanchang-Changchun route changed to a Shenzhen-Changchun route.

In Chengdu, China Southern will begin“dual airport”operations at both Shuangliu and Tianfu International Airports with new routes officially launched from Tianfu Airport to major cities across the country.  By then, it will operate 25 routes at these two airports in Chengdu, serving 27 destinations. Twenty-four inbound and outbound daily flights will be added, bringing the total to more than 110. Shuangliu Airport will remain with an average of 20 daily flights.

Guangzhou's “4-Hour Air Traffic Circle” Covering Southeast Asia

During the 2023 IATA Summer Season, China Southern will operate 74 international and regional routes, with 732 weekly flights, including 34 routes departing from Guangzhou with 416 weekly flights.

Guangzhou will offer a“4-hour air traffic circle”that covers major cities throughout Southeast Asia and a“12-hour air traffic circle”that spans major destinations around the world.

International services that have been resumed are primarily those serving destinations in Australasia and Southeast Asia.

In Australiasia, China Southern will operate daily round-trip service from Guangzhou Baiyun to Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland.

For South Korea, it will offer one daily round-trip flight between Shenyang/Dalian/Yanji/Guangzhou and Incheon International Airport, and one between Beijing Daxing and Gimpo International Airport.

In Southeast Asia, it will operate two round-trip daily flights between Guangzhou Baiyun and Kuala Lumpur/Singapore/Ho Chi Minh City/Hanoi/Manila and other cities.

Besides, China Southern plans to resume tourist routes from Guangzhou Baiyun to Bali, Sabah, Chiang Mai, Siem Reap, Phuket and other cities by the end of April.

It will launch new services between Beijing Daxing and Moscow with four weekly flights and resume flights from Beijing Daxing to Amsterdam and Gimpo.

Flights between Beijing Daxing and Islam Karimov Tashkent International Airport will  resume on March 27 and new services to international destinations including London and Osaka will be opened.

 China Southern will resume more international and regional flights based on appropriate policies, market demand and operational support.

To better serve passengers, China Southern has launched an upgraded “Touring Around China” product in the new season. It is committed to building up its service brand featuring “Affinity and Refinement”, with six unique services including “China Southern E-Travel”, “Exclusive Customer Service”, “Baggage Premium”, “Transit Service”, “Considerate Service 360” and “China Southern Cuisine.”

The Company will continue to make adjustments to its flight schedules to international and regional (Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) destinations in light of new domestic and international aviation market policies as well as changes in market demand. In doing so, it can provide passengers with improved air travel services while helping foster a new development pattern with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other.