China Southern Adds International Capacity With New Routes, Frequencies

China Southern Airlines is set to add new routes to cities in Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Kazakhstan and Qatar as part of ongoing efforts to rebuild its international schedule.

China’s largest carrier has seen its international capacity recover to approximately 67% of pre-pandemic levels in December 2023. The airline anticipates a further increase to around 79% in January 2024 with the launch of new services and additional frequencies ahead of the Chinese New Year.

Starting later this month, the Guangzhou-based company will introduce four new routes, including two from its hub at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN) to Lahore, the largest city in the Pakistani province of Punjab, and Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea.

Beginning Dec. 20, China Southern will operate three flights per week to Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport (LHE) using Boeing 737-8 aircraft. Simultaneously, a once-a-week service to Port Moresby International Airport (POM) will commence.

The service to LHE will be China Southern’s second to the airport alongside its existing flights from Urumqi, located in the far northwest of mainland China. The airline initially began serving Pakistan’s second-largest city in summer 2018 from both Guangzhou and Urumqi, but the route from CAN was suspended in March the following year.

On the Guangzhou-Port Moresby sector, OAG Schedules Analyser data shows China Southern will become the sole operator of nonstop service between mainland China and Papua New Guinea. The move comes fewer than five months after talks between Wang Weizhong, the governor of the Guangdong Province, and James Marape, the prime minister of Papua New Guinea. It is hoped the new route will increase Chinese tourist traffic to the southwestern Pacific island country, as well as boosting trade links.

In addition to these routes, China Southern will launch a 3X-weekly service from Zhangjiajie, a city in northwest China's Hunan province, to Hong Kong International Airport, starting Dec. 11 and utilizing Boeing 737-800s. As previously reported, flights connecting Zhengzhou, the capital of east-central China’s Henan province, to London Gatwick Airport are also set to begin from Dec. 16.

Looking ahead to 2024, China Southern will introduce a new route connecting Beijing Daxing International Airport (PKX) with Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan. The service will operate three times a week using Airbus A321neos from Jan. 23, making China Southern the sole operator on this sector. However, Air Astana also serves Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) from Almaty, as well flying from Astana.

Elsewhere, the Civil Aviation Administration of China recently approved China Southern to begin two routes to Doha’s Hamad International Airport (DOH) from PKX and CAN. While tickets for flights to the Qatari capital are not currently available for purchase, OAG schedules suggest that the airline plans to operate a daily PKX-DOH route utilizing 787-9 aircraft. The route would become its first to Qatar and see it join Qatar Airways and Xiamen Airlines Company as an operator of nonstop PKX-DOH flights.

Other changes to China Southern’s international schedule over the coming weeks include increasing Guangzhou-Singapore frequencies from three to 4X-daily from Dec. 9; Guangzhou-Moscow Sheremetyevo from three to 4X-weekly from Dec. 28; and Guangzhou-Dubai International from 10 to 11X-weekly from Jan. 1.

Looking at China Southern’s overall international capacity for December 2023 shows that markets including Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, Russia and the UK have now exceeded 2019 levels. However, service to the carrier’s top-three largest markets in December 2019—Japan, South Korea and Thailand—is at 44%, 82% and 42%, respectively. Capacity to the U.S. also remains 84% lower compared with before the pandemic.