News
China Southern receives 700th aircraft and Colorful Guizhou orders more E190s
September 9th 2016
Mainland carriers are quickly becoming the world’s largest aircraft owners. This week, China Southern Airlines took delivery of its 700th aircraft, an A321. Read More » The Guangzhou-based airline has Asia’s largest, and the world’s fourth largest, fleet following American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines.
In 2014, the SkyTeam member became the first Mainland airline to carry more than 100 million passengers in a year. It aims to have a fleet exceeding 1,000 aircraft by 2020 and to handle more than 160 million passengers annually. In the last 24 months, China Southern added more than 100 aircraft to its fleet.
China Southern operates more than 958 cargo and passenger routes to 220 destinations. Last week it sought Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) approval for a new Guangzhou-Urumqi-Vienna route.
The carrier’s general manager for Kenya, Wu Weijun, this week said China Southern is planning to launch a second destination in Africa, following Nairobi, with both Cairo and Lagos under consideration.
In its latest report, the Guangdong government's development research centre said Guangdong's trade with Africa was worth $43.1 billion last year, accounting for 24.1% of the national total, up from 18% in 2011.
Shanghai-headquartered China Eastern Airlines once again boosted its presence Down Under. The airline will add a third route to Sydney starting November, a thrice-weekly (Beijing-) Hangzhou-Sydney A330-200 flight, complementing its existing thrice-weekly (Beijing-)-Nanjing-Sydney route. The SkyTeam carrier also flies from Sydney to its Shanghai hub twice daily and it will launch a daily, year-round Brisbane-Pudong service from December 16.
China Eastern this week also applied to the CAAC to start a Kunming-Nanjing-Vancouver A330-200 route next month and a thrice-weekly Pudong-Kunming-Abu Dhabi service, also operated by the 264-seater -200.
At Juneyao Airlines, the carrier’s board this week agreed to purchase five A320 Family aircraft for expansion, as well as three spare engines for deliveries from the end of this year through to 2018. Juneyao, a subsidiary of Shanghai Juneyao (Group) Co. Ltd, one of China's Top 100 private companies, posted operating revenues of 4.75 billion yuan for the first-half ended June 30, up 23.7 % year-on-year. Net profit rose 37.2% to 710 million yuan. It operates a fleet of 56 A320Family jets.
Orient Aviation understands that Juneyao Airlines will officially join Star Alliance’s Connecting Partners Model in October. Juneyao would be a good addition to the Star network, given the alliance’s relative weakness in the Shanghai market dominated by the SkyTeam alliance.
Juneyao’s low-cost subsidiary, Guangzhou-based 9 Air, this week took delivery of its ninth aircraft, a B737-800. This is the LCC’s second direct delivery from Boeing out of a 2014 order for 50 B737NG and B737MAX aircraft.
In other Mainland updates, Guiyang-based Colorful Guizhou Airlines this week placed a top-up order with Embraer for two E190s, plus three options, with deliveries next year, at list prices of US$249 million.
In 2015, it ordered seven E190s. Of these, four have been delivered thus far, with the remaining three due before year-end. Colorful Guizhou flies to twelve domestic destinations from its Guiyang base.
The airline started commercial operations in January this year. “Based on the aircraft's performance during the past eight months, we are glad we picked Embraer's E190, an aircraft model with good economy, unparalleled cabin comfort, and high reliability, which has enabled us to provide passengers with a good travel experience. We hope that the E190 fleet can help us build a sky passageway inside and beyond Guizhou province, and eventually contribute to improving the connectivity of China's Southwest Region," said Zhai Yan, chairman of Guizhou Industrial Investment (Group) Co., Ltd and chairman of Colorful Guizhou Airlines.
