China Southern is introducing six new international routes to locations in Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Singapore, and Turkey.
In addition to more flights from Shenzhen (SZX) in the southeast of the country and Xi’an (XIY), the capital of the central Shaanxi province, the airline has scheduled two new services from Zhengzhou (CGO), the capital of east-central China’s Henan province.
Additionally, China Southern plans to launch additional lines from its home city of Guangzhou (CAN), which is situated northwest of Hong Kong on the Pearl River, and from Nanning (NNG), a city in southern China close to the Vietnam border.
According to an analysis of OAG statistics, China Southern will be running 43 international routes and about 25,500 international weekly seats starting on December 12.
In contrast, one month earlier there were 35 routes and around 20,000 weekly seats.
Recently reopened routes include Guangzhou-New York John F. Kennedy (JFK), and beginning on January 9 there will be two weekly flights between Guangzhou and Nairobi (NBO).
In the meantime, this week’s total foreign departure capacity from the Chinese mainland is roughly 202,000, an increase of 20% from early November.
Austrian Airlines has announced plans to enhance frequency between Vienna (VIE) and Shanghai Pudong in addition to China Southern’s additional route additions (PVG). Starting on January 16, service will increase from weekly to twice-weekly using 777s.
On December 22, Air China will begin service on a once-weekly Shanghai-Athens (ATH) route that will go through Chengdu on the outbound leg. On December 15, China Eastern Airlines will begin service on a new Wuhan-Hong Kong route that will also operate once per week.