China Southern is adding extra flights from Australia and New Zealand to Guangzhou and Beijing later this year, with Auckland, Brisbane and Melbourne all seeing more frequent service.
Perth-Guangzhou flights -- now confirmed as starting on 8 November -- have also been directly extended to Beijing with a short transit stop in Guangzhou.
Melbourne sees the most extra flights, with an extra flight every day. That takes Melbourne-Guangzhou to a twice daily schedule. New flight CZ343 leaves Guangzhou at 0900 and arrives into Melbourne at 2130, with the CZ344 return flights leaving Melbourne at 1130 and arriving into Guangzhou at 1810. The two existing overnight flights (CZ 321/322) will also continue.
Brisbane flights CZ381 from Guangzhou and return flight CZ382 will see an extra flight every week, reaching a four times weekly service. Brisbane-Guangzhou will also see a larger Airbus A330-300 on the route as well -- and the flight will extend to Beijing as well from 31 October, meaning an easier connection for Brisbane-Beijing travel.
(Of course, you could always try the novelty of a domestic Airbus A380 flight between Guangzhou and Beijing. China Southern is the first airline to operate the superjumbo on domestic routes.)
And don't forget China Southern's new thrice-weekly Perth flights CZ319 and CZ320, which are now open for reservation for flights starting 8 November. As an added bonus for WA travellers, these flights have also been extended on to Beijing.
Across the Tasman, Auckland flights CZ305 and CZ306 will also increase from thrice weekly to daily. Brisbane travellers in particular could find that this new daily flight is a better option than connecting via Sydney or Melbourne.
Sydney flights remain unchanged at twice daily.
All the airline's flights will continue to use Airbus A330 aircraft.
Tip of the hat to the ever-detailed airlineroute.net.
Aviation journalist and travel columnist John took his first long-haul flight when he was eight weeks old and hasn't looked back since. Well, except when facing rearwards in business class.
12 Jul 2011
Total posts 75
Not to mention the prices of their flights to China can be up to 50% cheaper than Qantas (refer to CX pricing VS. QF pricing between Sydney and Shanghai). That and the chinese flight attendants don't give you the "I'm doing you a favour just by being here" attitude, which is more than I can say for some QF flight attendants...
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