Tourists enjoy a Cantonese breakfast in August, image courtesy of China Daily

By October 29, 534 foreign visitors had enjoyed a 72-hour visa-free stay in the provincial capital. The number of users climbed from 96 in August to 166 in September, an increase of 73 percent.

The exit-entry authority of Baiyun district received an average of 10 requests for a 72-hour visa-free stay every day in October.

Almost half of the visitors have been Australian, as the airport attempts to compete as a popular stopover for flights between Europe and Australia.

Airbus A380 service to Sydney and Boeing 787 Dreamliner service to Auckland were launched last week by China Southern Airlines to add to the Dreamliner flights to London that were introduced in September, all of which should help make the “Canton Route” more popular.

The paper has more:

Christine O’Maley, a Sydney-based public relations executive for the airline, hopes that Guangzhou will become the next hotspot for stopovers between Oceania and Europe.

“Australians often fly to the UK to visit friends and family. It’s a long flight of 24 hours so most passengers will choose to make a stopover to have a rest and explore a new city,” O’Maley said.

“Popular stopover choices have been Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok. And Dubai has become a new favorite as Emirates has vigorously tapped the market in Australia in recent years.

“We are strengthening promotions of China Southern Airlines and Guangzhou’s visa-free transit policy in Australia,” added the PR executive, who accompanied 11 journalists from major media outlets in Australia and New Zealand on their weekend trip to Guangzhou.

Guangzhou Airport has at least one advantage as a stopover: it’s almost never boring.

Starting October 27, flight CZ325/326 will shuttle passengers between Guangzhou and Sydney, boosting the ‘Canton Route’ as the cheapest way to fly between the Australia and Europe.

With 41 per cent more capacity, according to CAPA data, it will increase the number of cheap tickets, especially at the front and top of the plane: there will be 52 more business class seats and four more in first class to fill.

Travelers won’t be able to fly all the way to London on the A380, however. Qantas, Emirates and Singapore Airlines are the only full-service carriers to fly all the way with the superjumbo.

CSA plans to put Boeing’s troubled Dreamliner on its European destinations – Amsterdam, London, Moscow and Paris – as soon as the first of 10 deliveries arrive.

Travelers en-route to Australia and Europe will be able to take advantage of Guangzhou’s soon-to-be implemented 72-hour visa free policy, potentially boosting Guangdong’s image to tourists.

People are packing their bags for Down Under in droves. Some 386,000 passengers flew with CSA in 2012, 56 per cent more than in 2011, according to Xinhua.

China’s biggest airline is proving a popular choice with the best connections to Australia.

The Guangzhou-based airline already flies twice-a-day to Sydney, and 30 return flights a week to Australia from its Baiyun hub, doubling the number of services operated three years-ago.

CSA has ambitious plans to operate 55 weekly return flights to Australia and New Zealand by 2015.

The combined popularity of Asia’s largest airline and the allure of Australia means that all services Down Under are turning a profit.  It’s a rare bright spot, with most international routes deep in the red as a result of aggressive expansion.

Outside of China, the A380 only flies to Los Angeles. Regulatory hold-ups have restricted the majority of the five planes worth US$389 million each to Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

The latest earnings by CSA show an 82 per cent slump in first quarter net profit to RMB57 million (US$9.1 million).

Photos by Danny Lee and Noel Jones

Cheap Canton
China Southern Airlines is throwing down the gauntlet to the old-guard with rock bottom fares as it attempts to make a name for itself flying between Europe and Australia.

According to Bloomberg, CSA is undercutting Qantas by as much as 34 per cent between Sydney and London. It is prepared to sacrifice profitability so it can take market share away from Dubai, Hong Kong and Singapore among others.

Here are the all-important numbers:

China Southern’s cheapest economy-class fare between Sydney and London for a two-week trip starting May 4 was A$1,442 (9,309 yuan, US$1497) on travel booking website webjet.com.au yesterday [March 13].

The lowest price for a non-Chinese airline, on Malaysian Airlines, was 19 per cent more expensive at A$1,721 (11,110 yuan, $1,786). Emirates tickets started at A$1,896 (12,240 yuan, $1968) while Singapore Air’s was at A$1,940 (12,524 yuan, $2,014).

The cheapest Qantas ticket was 51 per cent more than China Southern, at A$2,180 (14,074 yuan, $2,263).

Currently, all 30 weekly China Southern flights to Australia from Guangzhou are profitable, an incredible feat. However, a health check on the rest of the airline’s international network tells a different story. The majority are languishing in the red, along with its domestic operations.

These problems can be attributed to a lack of awareness to the CSA brand globally and serious competition in the mainland, but its image is changing as it further embeds itself into the SkyTeam airline alliance.

In announcing the Canton Route last year, it made a play on Cathay Pacific’s Hong Kong territory, but it also joined a handful of airlines connecting the dots, usually via the traditional Kangaroo route.

At the start of next month, Australia’s Qantas, which first coined the Kangaroo Route, will leave its Singapore stopover for Dubai in partnership with Emirates, leaving British Airways and Singapore Airlines a wide berth. But these carriers carry some of the highest fares, leaving state-backed CSA to undercut its rivals.

Bloomberg reports:

The [Canton] route will provide experience needed for further expansion into North America and Europe as annual spending by Chinese tourists exceeds $100 billion.

Here’s what the rivals have to say:

The Chinese carriers “are on our radar,” said Simon Hickey, head of Qantas’s international unit.

The competition “keeps us on our toes,” Singapore Air spokesman Nicholas Ionides.

Qantas and Singapore Air are configuring their own strategies for growth and profitablity

Peter Harbison of aviation analyst CAPA says:

“The sheer volumes of travelers mean that eventually China can be the most powerful transit country in the region, probably the world…They will be able to price very, very competitively.”

Plans to make Guangzhou a transit hub of choice are well underway, with upgrades to existing infrastructure and an expansion in full swing. Still, it has a ways to go before it can take on award-winning Changi Airport in Singapore, the premier choice.

BA to go A380 to Hong Kong
British Airways is joining the superjumbo pack later this year as it unleashes its first batch of 12 Airbus A380s to Hong Kong. The UK’s flagship carrier has penned November 15 for its first departure if all goes according to plan.

This will be a boost also to Cathay Pacific, as it joins up with BA to become the partner of choice to take passengers between Australia and Europe. Deploying the A380 will marginalise CSA’s attempts to shift passengers from Hong Kong to Guangzhou.

All change for Dragonair?
Rumours of a name change at Dragonair are being speculated, first reported by CAPA, as Cathay Pacific seeks to accelerate the makeover of the regional airline it bought back in 2006.

A rogue photo sent to the South China Morning Post has heightened speculation that change is afoot.

The name is Dragon… Cathay Dragon.

The hybrid puts a Swire stamp on its purchase, keeping part of the Dragonair brand – stated to be a powerful name among Asian travellers – and shoehorning Cathay, widely recognised around the world, to show who’s in charge.

The option to refresh the brand comes as naming rights expired last year leaving the door open to change.

Dragonair’s cabin offerings will soon be matched to its sister airline in all but colour, giving consistency to customers – a regular complaint among seasoned Cathay travellers shoved onto codeshare flights.

Dragonair image: SCMP / Other images: Danny Lee

Few details are known so far about the incident which took place on February 20, towards the tail end of the Chinese New Year.

Two passengers were angry over the late arrival of a China Southern Airlines flight from Melbourne, Australia, and took out their anger on a gate agent, who they beat to the ground.

As you can see in the picture below, he is cradled, covering his face. A few barriers can be seen knocked down.

All in all, it looks like a mess.
This incident is pretty similar to the actions of Yan Linkun, the now suspended CPPCC committee member and deputy chairman of state-owned Yunnan Mining Corporation, who was caught on CCTV smashing the place up after he missed his flight.

We’ve now got a video with sound to hear his unfortunate episode.

He went berserk at one of the gates at Kunming Airport for missing his flight, not once, but twice. All the damage, thankfully, was to inanimate objects rather than airline staff who bravely watched on.

Here’s a series of notable passenger incidents in February as Adam Minter points out:

– Feb. 6, Kunming Changshui International Airport: In a video that has gone viral internationally, Yan Linkun, a mining executive and county-level Communist Party official, smashes two boarding gate computers and attempts to send the frame of a sign through the glass door standing between him and the second flight that he and his family have missed.

– Feb. 14, Beijing Capital International Airport: Six business-class passengers traveling together refuse to fasten their seat belts or turn off their phones prior to takeoff, then become abusive toward the flight attendants and captain, forcing a return to the gate and a substantial flight delay.

– Feb. 22, Air France Flight 132, somewhere between Paris and Wuhan: Two men, reportedly drunk, swipe between seven and 16 bottles of wine (accounts vary) from a drink cart. When confronted, they become so belligerent that the pilot has to intervene. They still manage to threaten the life of a passenger whom they judge as particularly nosy.

This is just the tip of the iceberg but I think we all need a bit of travelling etiquette.

HK Airlines dumps loss-making London service
Hong Kong Airlines seems to be in a tailspin. The airline already cancelled its all-business class service to London Gatwick only seven months after it announced the service amid much fanfare.

All tickets from September 3 were shown as sold out last week, which raised speculation the London route was about to fall under the axe. Poor planning and miscalculations have led to the service being “deep in the red” ever since the launch, according to the SCMP.

Post reporter Charlotte So has more figures on HK Airlines’ errors:

The operating cost of the 14-hour flight is estimated at HK$3 million, including fuel costs, crew allowances and inflight meals.

Insiders said the carrier burns about HK$1 million to HK$2 million a day on the service and around HK$10 million a month. The monthly losses are lower than they would normally be because the airline cancels the services from time to time depending on the demand.

The company blamed troubles in Europe for failing to lure passengers away from Cathay Pacific and British Airways.

Now, HK Airlines, backed by the HNA Group, owner of China’s fourth largest carrier Hainan Airlines, will attempt to build on its Asian connections.

In the days leading up to the cancellation of its London service the airline was cited by regulators for poor service, blocking any expansion to the fleet.  According to Reuters, this lead to HK Airlines cancelling its $3.8 billion order for 10 Airbus A380s.

Jeffrey Lowe, general manager of Asian Sky Group, a Hong Kong-based aviation consultants group told Reuters:

It sounds like a very diplomatic way to say that we think your safety standards are slipping so, until you can show us you can handle any additional aircraft being added to your fleet, we would not approve it.

And the airline is still reeling from Typhoon Vicente, taking over a week to clear the backlog of passengers caught up in the worst storm to batter the South China coast in 13 years.

The final flight will pick up Hong Kong’s Paralympians, as the official carrier for the athletes, from London on September 10.

Kangaroo versus Canton? The battle of the skies heats up
Guangzhou’s China Southern Airlines (CSA) is bringing out its best aircraft for its new Sydney-London route, adding pressure to competitors in the battle for passengers, profits and prestige.

CSA president and CEO Tan Wangeng told Australian Business Traveller the airline’s new 787 Dreamliner will be deployed on the route.

We will spare no effort in building the Canton Route into a premium product, using new Airbus A380 superjumbo and Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

The news will cause some concern at Qantas, where its struggling international outfit, including that of their Kangaroo Route via Singapore, faces stiff competition against the likes of Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Emirates and more.

China Southern will be the first airline to utilise the aircraft in British and Australian airspace beating both country’s own flagship carriers.

Japan-China seal Open-Skies deal
Japan and China have signed a new air deal boosting the number of flights between the two countries, liberalising the Sino-Japan market.

The deal, announced on August 8, will see new routes and increased frequencies which include Guangzhou-Tokyo Haneda for the first time. The pact has already roused interest with many Japanese-based airlines eyeing new departures to China.

Ethiopian u-turn on 787 service to Guangzhou
Ethiopian Airlines has dropped plans to deploy its new 787 Dreamliner to Guangzhou. While not good for passengers, it will be good news for China Southern which will have the honour of being the first carrier to utilise the newest aircraft in the mainland.

Hong Kong Airlines picture by Benson Kua on Flickr

Baiyun Airport gets bigger, so will the number of Guangzhou’s airports
In the latest gathering of Guangzhou’s political decision-makers, the Standing Committee approved plans to construct a third runway at Baiyun Airport with construction starting this month. In other news, construction will begin on the airport’s new second terminal – just north of the existing facility – by the end of the year.

However, if that isn’t enough, China Daily reports that the airport extension is in line with current plans to create a second Guangzhou airport to the south of the city. If plans come to fruition, the PRD will become one of the most congested regional airspaces in the country catering for Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Zhuhai, Shenzhen and Macau.

China Southern’s first A380 international flight
There was a lot of hype, fanfare and attention on China Southern Airlines (CSA) newest arrival, the double-decker A380, last year. Then it headed into a year-long domestic exile. Now though, it’s going international: It’s off to Hollywood.

The carrier’s upgraded service will take off on October 12 as the first and only Chinese superjumbo to head across the Pacific.

While China Southern already flies to Los Angeles, it believes it can tap into a greater share of the Trans-Pacific market. In doing so, Airline Route reckons overall capacity will soar 78 per cent, meaning CSA has its work cut out for itself.

CSA has three superjumbos in its fleet with two more on the way, which will be deployed on international routes and primary domestic cities.

India’s SpiceJet heads to the PRD’s busiest airports
India’s budget airline SpiceJet has won government approval to expand international operations, starting with daily services to Hong Kong and Guangzhou. The Nanfang earlier reported on India’s aviation reforms aimed at revitalising the sector.

As SpiceJet plans for a China arrival, Dragonair prepares for a second Indian landing
Dragonair is extending its reach away from the Far East and South East Asia. Starting November 2, a new four-times-a-week service to Kolkata, in the eastern state of West Bengal, will take off. The move will also help support Cathay Pacific, its parent company, as a feeder and codeshare airline. Cathay already flies to five major Indian cities.

And two major updates on stories The Nanfang trailed last week on Shenzhen-Sydney, Delhi-Hong Kong-Osaka Kansai and Delhi-Hong Kong-Seoul Incheon. Air India is resuming flights to Seoul Incheon and Osaka Kansai via Hong Kong earlier than planned. The Delhi-Hong Kong-Osaka Kansai route resumes with three weekly flights starting on August 21 and Delhi-Hong Kong-Seoul Incheon resumes the following day with four flights a week.

Hainan Airlines has postponed resuming its Sydney service until December 3.

China Southern ramps up London service
It wasn’t long ago that China Southern Airlines (CSA) launched their new Guangzhou-London service, and they’re already increasing the frequency of flights. Starting October 28, Heathrow will get daily service from Guangzhou, the only non-stop flight between the two cities.

Shenzhen starts-up Sydney service again
Hainan Airlines is returning to Sydney, Australia once more starting October 29 after a near nine-month hiatus – also making it the furthest international destination from Shenzhen to anywhere in the Asia-Pacific, let alone the world.

China Southern’s South East Asia shuffle
From September 21, Kuala Lumpur gets an extra daily flight from Guangzhou, taking the total to three flights a day.

Starting September 24 there will be extra flights from Guangzhou to Ho Chi Minh City, Singapore and Yangon. Ho Chi Minh goes thrice-daily, Singapore has been increased to four-a-day while Yangon temporarily doubles to four-a-week until October 26. Finally, starting October 1, twice-daily service resumes on the Guangzhou-Manila route after passenger traffic took a knock over rising political tensions between the mainland and the Philippines earlier this summer.

Hong Kong’s winter blues
Winter is the time of year where wings are clipped in the northern hemisphere as far as long-haul goes. British Airways are keeping to its 14 weekly departures from Heathrow, previously aiming for 17, while European rival Lufthansa reduces daily departures to a five or six flights a week service.

And in recent weeks, Hong Kong has been hit by strikes at Air India. While there’s been a resolution, flights from Delhi to Hong Kong and onwards to Osaka Kansai and Seoul Incheon are still suspended until September 1.

Emirates A380 Hong Kong u-turn
The Dubai-carrier has backed out of plans to introduce a 14-weekly A380 service to Hong Kong. It will stick to its previous seven A380 departures via Bangkok, with four other aircraft going to Hong Kong non-stop.

There’s still hope
It’s not all bad news in Hong Kong. Hong Kong Airlines is boosting services to Shanghai Pudong starting August 1. Its introducing an extra three flights on top of the 14-weekly in an all-new business class only flight. And from September 10, the number of flights will rise to 21 a week.

Source: Airline Route