China Southern Airlines debut its Dreamliner on NZ route

WELLINGTON -- China Southern Airlines has moved forward its deployment of its new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft on its Guangzhou-Auckland route, expanding both cargo capacity and passenger numbers, the airline announced Tuesday.

The airline would begin flying the Dreamliner on the direct route from October 28, ahead of the previously announced debut of December 4, said the airline in a joint statement with Auckland Airport.

A second China Southern Airlines Dreamliner would service the route for the peak summer period of December 4 to March 1, when the number of flights would increase from seven to 10 weekly flights.

"The announcement of the change to the 787 Dreamliner aircraft immediately provides us with almost 5 percent growth in seat capacity per year. This, coupled with the additional three services per week in the summer peak season, again signals strong growth for the industry from Chinese arrivals," Glenn Wedlock, Auckland Airport general manager aeronautical commercial, said in the statement.

"Equally, the Dreamliners are much more fuel efficient which makes the services more profitable and more beneficial in terms of environmental impact."

The aircraft also offered a 20-percent advantage in cargo revenue capacity over similar-sized aircraft, meaning more capacity for high value air freight exports such as fresh produce, said Wedlock.

China Southern's Boeing 787 was the first to have a first class cabin, which would have four seats, while business class would have 24 and economy 200 seats.

China Southern Airlines also announced that New Zealanders would be allowed to transit in Guangzhou for 72 hours without a visa, an increase from the previously allowed stay of 24 hours.

Mike Ma, China Southern Airlines general manager New Zealand, said in the statement that the new visa waiver would give travelers more value for money as they could fully experience the city on their way to another destination.