China Southern Airlines President confers with Australian Tourism Minister

China Southern Airlines has met with Australia's Minister for Small Business and Tourism, the Hon Joe Hockey, as part of an Australian tourism delegation to China.

The Vice Chairman and President of China Southern Airlines, Mr. Wang Changshun, met with the Minister at a special tourism industry forum in Beijing, hosted by the Australian Tourist Commission, as part of a fresh drive by Australia to develop tourism from China.

The Minister also met with Chairman of the China National Tourism Administration, Mr. He Guangwei, to discuss the expansion of the Approved Destination Status (ADS) to allow more Chinese visitors to experience group travel to Australia.

Australia is an increasingly important market for China, and for China Southern Airlines, with strong growth projections for tourism, business and freight movement between both markets, said Mr. Wang.

Following the SARS crisis earlier this year, the airline has achieved substantial growth in Sino-Australia passenger bookings and is seeing increasingly strong increases in freight bookings and enquiries between the two countries.

"Currently, we operate three Boeing 777 flights per week to Australia from our hub in Guangzhou … two services on the Guangzhou-Melbourne-Sydney route and a third flight on the Guangzhou-Sydney route," said Mr. Wang. "China Southern is pleased to expanding its service to Australia with a new fourth flight between Guangzhou and Sydney from December 2003 to February 2004 to accommodate peak summer season demand.

"It is our intention to progressively build to daily 777 passenger service between Guangzhou and Australia within the entitlements of the air services agreement between our two countries and to consider additional destinations in Australia."

Mr. Wang said China Southern's acquisition of the former domestic carriers China Northern Airlines and Xinjiang Airlines had increased significantly the group's route network within China and its ability to deliver more passengers to and from International destinations.

To help meet the growing demand, the airline is progressively introducing new Boeing and Airbus jets for operations within China.

"Our capabilities will increase even more beginning Summer 2004 when the new Guangzhou International Airport is opened, providing significant efficiency benefits through increased terminal capacity and efficient new passenger and baggage processing systems," added Mr. Wang.

An agreement has been reached between Australia and China to progressively expand the Approved Destination Status (ADS), with the first stage to include six new regions.

The new regions, Chongqing, Hebei, Jiangsu, Shandong, Tianjin and Zhejiang have a combined population of 315 million people. Previously only residents of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong have been able to travel to Australia under the ADS environment.