Two more 777Fs, and a new hub strategy for China Southern

Last week we reported that China Southern Airlines was planning to add five freighters to its fleet over the next two months. It now looks like the only thing wrong with that report was the timing – one month might be a better guess than two, as three of the five freighters have already arrived, and the remaining two will likely join the fleet by the end of this month.

China Southern took delivery of its tenth and eleventh 777Fs (41635, 41636) from Boeing at the end of June, and the carrier said it expects to take delivery of the last 777F it has on firm order (41637) before the end of this month. As we reported last week, China Southern is also in the process of returning two 747-400Fs to service after two years in storage. The first has already joined the fleet, and the second has been ferried to Guangzhou for maintenance prior to service entry.

And on the subject of Guangzhou, while China Southern Airlines is based in that southern city on the Pearl River Delta, it has long used Shanghai as its freighter hub. However, this is changing, and the carrier said that once all the new freighters were in service, it would base six of its twelve 777Fs in Guangzhou and six in Shanghai. China Southern said the move was designed to take advantage of the Guangdong Free Trade Zone.

• Freighter destinations served from Shanghai will include: Amsterdam, Frankfurt, and Vienna in Europe; Los Angeles and Vancouver in North America; as well as Chongqing and Tianjin in China.

• Freighter destinations served from Guangzhou will include: Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Paris, and Vienna in Europe; and Chongqing in China.