News
Sichuan Airlines sets its sights on Africa
September 28th 2018
Sichuan Airlines will launch its first route to Africa on October 23, a twice a week A330 service from its Chengdu base to Cairo. Read More »
The full-service airline has been growing its long-haul network in the past 18 months by adding flights to Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Tel Aviv and Zurich.
Sichuan Airlines is not a member of a global airline alliance, which means there will be limited, if any, onward connectivity from Cairo. Earlier this year, Sichuan Airlines said it was seeking an alliance membership, although no details have been made available since then. SkyTeam CEO, Kristin Colvile, has told Orient Aviation SkyTeam is not looking to add Sichuan Airlines as a member carrier to the alliance.
In August, Sichuan Airlines accepted the first of its 14 on-order A350-900s. The first four airplanes will be leased from AerCap and the remainder purchased directly from Airbus.
Sichuan Airlines’ A350s have 28 business and 303 economy class seats with a 1-2-1 business class configuration. The airline is operating the XWB from its Chengdu hub to Beijing and Shanghai’s Pudong Airport, but said it would “soon” launch the A350 on its international “Panda Routes”.
Sichuan Airlines has an all-Airbus fleet of 127 A320 Family aircraft, including five A320neo and four A321neo, 12 A330 Family aircraft and one A350-900. The partnership between Sichuan Airlines and Airbus dates from 1995 when the carrier became a customer of the A320. It was the first airline to operate an Airbus fly-by-wire aircraft on the Mainland and the first airline to accept delivery of a Tianjin-assembled A320 Family aircraft.
