China Southern A350-900

CHINA SOUTHERN Airlines has taken delivery of its initial A350- 900, the first of 20 examples of the newest Airbus twin-aisle widebody to be received by the Guangzhoubased carrier.

P Masclet/Airbus

China Southern operates an Airbus fleet of 335 aircraft, including 282 A320 Family aircraft, 48 A330s and five A380s.

China Southern’s A350-900 aircraft features a three-class cabin layout of 314 seats: 28 business, 24 premium economy and 262 economy.

The airline will initially operate the new aircraft on its domestic routes from Guangzhou to Shanghai and Beijing, followed by flights to international destinations.

China Southern joins Air China, Asiana, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, Japan Airlines, Philippine Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Vietnam Airlines as carriers in Asia-Pacific to have received A350s.

To date, firm orders for the family from carriers in the region represent over a third of total sales for the type, with Sichuan Airlines and Starlux other customers set to put variants of the aircraft into service in the future.

At the end of May 2019, the A350 XWB Family had received 893 firm orders from 51 customers worldwide.

Mark Broadbent