China Southern plans new Australian routes for underperforming A380 fleet
China Southern Airlines is expanding its destinations list in a bid to optimise its fleet of five Airbus A380 jets which are said to be flying at less than capacity on short and medium range routes.
A China Southern A380
The airline was unable to secure long-distance flights out of Beijing. It now plans to fly to destinations in Australia including Sydney.
The airline will now fly twice daily from October 28th between Guangzhou and Sydney in place of the fleet’s current, smaller A330s.
China Southern reported a net profit fall of 82% in the first quarter of 2013. The Wall Street Journal reported that the airline incurred losses of 200 million yuan in 2012 from its A380 fleet alone.
Bonnie Chan, a transportation analyst at Macquarie said. "It will take time for China Southern to build strong product offerings and service standards on par with many of its Western rivals, which are already well-established on the Kangaroo route, putting it at a competitive disadvantage at the start."