China Southern Airbus A380s return to Sydney-Guangzhou

China Southern’s Airbus A380 will return to Sydney across the Australian summer on one of its two daily Sydney-Guangzhou flights.

Replacing the smaller Airbus A330 between October 26 2015 and March 26 2016, the A380 will run on CZ326 from Sydney and CZ325 from Guangzhou, with flights now on sale via the China Southern website:

Guests on the superjumbo depart Sydney each day at 11:25am to reach China in time for dinner at 5:50pm, while those homeward-bound push back at 9pm in Guangzhou for a 9:25am arrival into Sydney the following morning.

China Southern's A380 brings with it 'Platinum Private Suites' with closing doors in what we'd call 'first class'...

... and fully-flat beds in what China Southern dubs 'First Class' but is really 'business class' as Aussie travellers know it.

As for economy, it's exactly that: 'Economy Class'.

China Southern's other daily Sydney flight, CZ302/301, will retain the current Airbus A330 aircraft, while Perth flights will also be boosted from four- to five-times-weekly from the same date.

Also read: Photo tour of China Southern's Airbus A380

PREVIOUS by David Flynn | China Southern will cancel its daily Airbus A380 flight between Sydney and Guangzhou, less than four months after the superjumbo's debut on the airline's 'Canton Route'.

A spokeswoman for China Southern confirmed to Australian Business Traveller that the A380's last Australian flight – at least for now – would be on February 21, 2014.

The superjumbo will be replaced by a smaller Airbus A330, although China Southern is hopeful the superjumbo will return next summer (that's southern hemipshere summer, for visitors from above the equator).

"After a successful summer down under, the A380 is expected to return again to operate during peak season" the spokeswoman said, citing the A380's absence as "reducing capacity on the Guangzhou-Sydney service in line with seasonal changes."

The biggest airline in Asia, state-owned China Southern – which only this month inked an alliance with Qantas to begin in early 2014 – has reportedly been facing consistently low passenger numbers on the double-deck jet, which has 506 seats – hundreds more than the smaller Airbus A330s which it usually runs between Australian and China.

On many flights the airline has been offering inflight upgrades from economy to business class of between $750 and $1,000 in an attempt to fill the cavernous 70 seat business class cabin; instant upgrades to the more exclusive first class cabin are often available at $2,750.

During the launch of the A380 service China Southern CEO Tan Wangeng admitted that the airline faced challenges in meeting passenger expectations in areas such as inflight meals and crew service.

Tan told Australian Business Traveller that customer feedback indicated travellers were “unhappy” with those two core aspects of the airline’s flights.

Read: China Southern promises better meals, more Aussie crew

China Southern has invested millions of dollars in extensive sponsorship to build its brand in the Australian market. These include three-year deals with the Sydney Festival and Melbourne Festival plus Perth's Sculpture by the Sea exhibition and a charity series of Twenty20 cricket.

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Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.