China Southern Readies Airbus A380 For Sydney

China Southern seems set to add the Airbus A380 onto its Sydney-Guangzhou service, with flights beginning later this year.

However, there's no word on if the superjumbo would continue through to London – a move which would make the airline's 'Canton Route' a closer competitor to Qantas' revamped Kangaroo Route via Dubai.

In August last year Mr Tan Wangeng, China Southern's president and CEO, tipped Australian Business Traveller to his plans, confirming that "China Southern does have a plan to use the A380 on the Canton Route."

"On our current Sydney route we operate double daily using our A330 aircraft and the load factor has been very satisfying. We are now investigating the possibility of using the A380 on this route" Tan admitted, adding that "more than 30% of the passengers travelling on (the Canton Route) are from Australia and Europe."

At the time, Tan also mused that an A380 flight "means we could be operating a triple daily service. We have to study if the market will be big enough to digest this capacity."

Today's Sydney Morning Herald reports that the announcement of China Southern's Sydney-Guangzhou A380 service is expected later this month.

China Southern currently runs only one international A380 service, that being between Guangzhou and Los Angeles/ The airline's other A380 routes are all within China, including the world's shortest A380 trip of just over two hours between Guangzhou and Shanghai.