China Southern seems set to add the Airbus A380 onto its Sydney-Guangzhou service, with flights beginning later this year.
However, there's no word on if the superjumbo would continue through to London ? a move which would make the airline's?'Canton Route' a closer competitor to Qantas' revamped Kangaroo Route via Dubai.
In August last year Mr Tan Wangeng, China Southern's?president and CEO, tipped Australian Business Traveller to his plans, confirming that?"China Southern does have a plan to use the A380 on the Canton Route."
"On our current Sydney route we operate double daily using our A330 aircraft and the load factor has been very satisfying. We are now investigating the possibility of using the A380 on this route" Tan admitted, adding that "more than 30% of the passengers travelling on (the Canton Route) are from Australia and Europe."
At the time, Tan also mused that an A380 flight "means we could be operating a triple daily service. We have to study if the market will be big enough to digest this capacity."
Today's Sydney Morning Herald reports that the announcement of China Southern's Sydney-Guangzhou A380 service is expected later this month.
China Southern currently runs only one international A380 service, that being between Guangzhou and Los Angeles/ The airline's other?A380 routes are all within China, including the world's shortest A380 trip of just over two hours between?Guangzhou and Shanghai.
Read:?The world?s shortest Airbus A380 flights
Inside China Southern's Airbus A380
CZ's A380 represents a substantial upgrade from the Airbus A330s currently used between Sydney and Guangzhou with improvements from tip to tail.
At the front of the main deck you'll find the first class?Platinum Private Suites. These SQ-style suites are?ensconced by shoulder-height walls and refreshingly bling-free, outfitted in a calm and elegant royal purple.
The eight suites on board are laid out across two rows, in a 1-2-1 configuration, with the slide-down divider between the middle pairs allowing for a chat with your travelling companion or colleague en route.
The seat controls and extra-large table are found in the handy armrest, which is itself a pleasing size for marshalling all your first class gear.
Most of the upper deck is given over to?the airline's confusingly-named business class offering, which China Southern dubs as 'First Class' ? good luck trying to swing that one past your company's travel manager when it comes to booking a business trip!
Frequent flyers may be familiar?with these types of seats ? they're made by EADS Sogerma and adopt a staggered layout with?direct aisle access?for every passenger.
Simple and clean lines are the order of the day once more for China Southern, with a calm and rather corporate light blue seat and off-white plastic surrounding shell.
The centre pairs (E and F seats on China Southern) are the seats to pick if you're travelling with your other half, and the seats to skip if you're not.
We'd also suggest avoiding the aisle seats on the side and in the middle (C and H on the CZ seatmap) skip since your elbows will be right out in the aisles, ready to be banged by the first trolley or passenger that goes past.
That all makes the A and K window seats, which have a large armrest/cocktail table between you and the rest of the plane, plus a few inches extra bed length, the ones to snag.
And, of course, you get the elbow room on the other side from the window storage bins ? all up, the extra surface area makes for a very practical 'office in the sky'.
Looking more closely at the seat, you'll find the controls sensibly up where the contents of your pockets won't brush up against them.
A water bottle holder sits in the corner, with a full universal power point at a handy spot right next to your arm.?
We like the clever recessed cupholder/plateholder too: no glasses sliding around here.
Economy class (refreshingly named 'Economy Class') is towards the back of the main cabin in the usual 3-4-3 seat layout.
If you're flying to China in the cheap sets we suggest booking into in the smaller upstairs economy cabin: this sports a roomier 2-4-2 layout with extra elbow and surface space plus more personal storage area for passengers in window seats.
(The seats you want are rows 70 through 78 - avoid row 79, which is a middle block of four seats flanked by the toilets, galley and crew area.)
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About David Flynn
David Flynn is the editor of Australian Business Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
Source: http://www.ausbt.com.au/china-southern-readies-airbus-a380-for-sydney
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