China Southern Airlines is to introduce the Airbus A380 on its flights to Amsterdam this summer, the first time it has deployed the Super Jumbo on its network to Europe. The aircraft will be introduced on the carrier’s daily Beijing – Amsterdam route between June 20, 2015 and October 24, 2015, replacing a smaller A330-300.
The Guangzhou-based airline is the sole Chinese operator of the A380 and currently operates a fleet of five aircraft. These first entered revenue service in October 2011 and have mainly been used on domestic services as well as the Guangzhou – Los Angeles route (from October 2012) and between Guangzhou and Sydney during peak travel periods in the winter schedule.
China Southern has previously revealed its intent to serve the European market with the 506-seat airliner but has faced opposition flying the jet out of Beijing due to regulatory procedures that prevent China’s big three state-owned carriers from competing with one another directly.
The airline has served the Beijing – Amsterdam market for almost twenty years after first introducing flights on the Guangzhou–Beijing–Amsterdam in 1996 following the arrival of its first Boeing 777 widebodies. It will be only the second airline to serve the Netherlands capital with the A380 after Emirates Airline.
In our analysis we look at annual segment demand between Beijing and Amsterdam, a market that is also served by Dutch flag carrier KLM, a partner of China Southern Airlines and fellow SkyTeam alliance member.
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