China Southern Airlines will operate its new Airbus A380s on daily domestic Beijing-Guangzhou and Beijing-Shanghai Hongqiao services.
This would make the SkyTeam alliance member the first operator of the superjumbo to deploy the aircraft on domestic routes. This is due to high domestic demand for air services on both routes, said a company official.
The other existing A380 operators - Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, Qantas Airways, Air France and Korean Air - only deploy them on international services.
China Southern will receive its first A380 in September and its second A380 in November, the airline's chairman Si Xianmin told Air Transport Intelligence in June.
Ticket sales for both domestic services will begin on 20 September, but a decision has not been made on when services will begin, said the company official.
China Southern's first international A380 service will be on the Guangzhou-Paris route, added the official.
The airline could increase the frequency on all three A380 services by end-2011.
It could also operate the aircraft on services to the USA, Si told ATI in June.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
