China Southern A380
HONG KONG – China Southern Airlines recently welcomed a new A380 to its existing fleet of more than 450 airliners, its third delivery of the largest civil aircraft in the world.
A ceremony held in Hong Kong on March 2 marked the A380′s maiden flight from Beijing to Hong Kong.
The route departs every day from Beijing at 8:50 am and returns from Hong Kong at 2:40 pm.
The latest A380 was delivered to China Southern Airlines on Feb 29 in Toulouse, France, where the manufacturer Airbus is headquartered.
After its arrival at Beijing Capital International Airport on March 1, the airplane was used on the Beijing-Hong Kong flight on following day.
The route was previously served by the much smaller A321.
China Southern has ordered five A380s from Airbus. The first two were delivered in the last half of 2011, followed by the recent arrival and a remaining two that will be delivered later this year and in 2013.
The A380 is by far the biggest civil aircraft in the world, which can accommodate 40 percent more passengers and has 50 percent more floor space than the second-largest aircraft at present, according to China Southern Airlines.
The plane used in the Beijing-Hong Kong flight has 506 seats – eight in first class, 70 in business class and 428 in the tourist cabin.
“Compared to the A380′s standard seat number of 560, our plane offers more spacious room for travelers and as a result makes them more comfortable,” said a China Southern executive.
The airline said market prospects for the A380 flight are “very promising” due to close business links between Hong Kong and Beijing.
“We began to sell A380 tickets on Feb 9, and half of the seats for March have already been reserved,” said the company.
The price for a round-trip first-class ticket is 11,580 yuan – higher than on other models – while business class is 8,340 yuan and a tourist-class round trip can be as low as 1,830 yuan.
In the first day, 90 percent of the seats were occupied from both Beijing and Hong Kong.
Delegates from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region were on the flight to attend the ongoing Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and the National People’s Congress meetings.
China Southern is the world’s seventh and China’s only airline to use the A380.
The company now has more than 450 airplanes for serving in its passenger and cargo operations, including Boeing 777, 747, 757, 737 and Airbus 380, 330, 321, 320, 319 models.
With the world’s sixth-largest fleet, China Southern carried 80 million passengers last year, ranking it first in Asia and third in the world.
It has 1,930 flights reaching 191 destinations in 33 countries and regions every day.
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