China Southern Airlines will shortly introduce services between its hub in Guangzhou and Belgrade with the carrier’s preliminary schedule now listed by Nikola Tesla Airport. Based on the filing, flights will commence on September 25 and operate twice per week, on Wednesdays and Sundays. According to the published schedule, the carrier will depart Guangzhou for Belgrade after midnight, arriving in the Serbian capital at 08:00 in the morning. The inbound service will take off at 11:00 in the morning, arriving back in China between 04:00 and 05:00 the following day. The carrier will deploy its Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft on the route. It operates both the -8 and -9 versions of the jet which seat between 266 and 297 passengers.
The exact scheduling and launch date for China Southern Airlines’ Belgrade service is likely to be slightly modified pending an agreement between the carrier and Air Serbia. As previously reported, Air Serbia and China Southern Airlines are looking to coordinate their operations between the two cities. The Serbian carrier itself will commence flights to Guangzhou on September 30, maintaining the service on Mondays and Fridays. The airline is expected to put tickets on sale for its new Shanghai route, due to launch before the end of the year, soon.
China Southern Airlines is one of the world’s largest carriers. This year, it is the sixth-largest airline in the world based on available seat capacity, behind only American Airlines, Delta, Ryanair, Southwest Airlines, and United. Similar to other Chinese carriers, it has rapidly expanded its European network this year, capitalising on the inability of its European counterparts to meet the demand for travel from China as they face increased costs resulting from overflight bans through Russian airspace. The United Kingdom is China Southern’s largest European market, followed by Russia, the Netherlands, France, Turkey, Italy, Hungary, Germany, and finally Luxembourg.
Excellent news. This is a big additions considering all the connectivity beyond Guangzhou they can provide.
ReplyDeleteDoes BEG airport have enough gates to handle these widebody flights during the morning wave? I thought JU's and and HU's A330s land in BEG around the same time? It will be a nice view of all those widebodies parked next to each other :)
DeleteWill be nice to see 787 on regular basis at BEG :)
ReplyDeleteIndeed. let's see if they use -8 or -9.
DeleteIt will be interesting to see how/if this impacts JU. I mean product wise, China Southern is better in business. In economy there won't be much difference.
ReplyDeleteEcon JU is probs better as A330 seats are wider than B787
DeleteAlthough Dreamliner is much nicer to fly on than 10 year old A330. Especially helps with jetlag.
Delete????
DeleteHe was probably referring to the bleedless engines and higher cabin pressure.
DeleteJU and CZ should codeshare. But even if it is the plan it will probably take months since Chinese bureaucracy usually take ages. I think it took them several months to approve JU/HU codehare years ago.
ReplyDeleteMozda ga Hrvatska bana. 😂
DeleteBtw what happened with JU/HU codeshare? It was also announced by Marek not long ago that JU is interested in codeshare.
DeleteA mozda ga Italija bana.
DeleteMaybe ANALitičar is going to say that China Southern is a small and unimportant airline and China an unimportant market 🤣
DeleteWhen Hainan started flights he claimed they were charters for Chinese construction workers,.
DeleteHe is refusing to admit own errors and mistakes but bullies others for small issues. As Confucius once said: a great man is hard on himself; a small man is hard on others.
Delete+100
DeleteNice addition to BEG. Let's see if China Eastern now launch PVG-BEG :D
ReplyDeleteI would not be surprised.
DeleteWhat are JU's scheduled days (are they in between CZ's) and how will they compete against a dreamliner with an ageing A330-200?
ReplyDeleteIt says in the article, Mondays and Fridays.
DeleteThis is their schedule
https://www.exyuaviation.com/p/air-serbia-belgrade-guangzhou.html
The schedule between JU and CZ seems pretty coordinated, there will be flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.
DeleteI think the idea is that there is enough demand for four weekly flights. For non-Chinese, flying with China Southern might be an issue if you want to buy a ticket online. All Chinese carriers have horrendous websites in English and are full of errors when you try to book a ticket using English. I had the same issue when I was buying tickets with Hainan last year, with CZ last year on two different occasions and this year with China Eastern.
DeleteThey'll have almost the same frequencies as to Budapest.
DeleteThe Chinese airlines websites is a plot after they were bribed by the UAE.
Delete^ what are you talking about?
Delete@09:02
DeleteWhat are you talking about? I bought ticket with China Southern 2 weeks ago, from CAN to BKK, no problem whatsoever..They have very very good prices to all SA Asia region, considering that 20kg luggage is included in ticket prices..Cheaper then low cost
So by the end of the year there will be 9 weekly flights to China. Not bad
ReplyDelete4 p/w to CAN
2 p/w to PVG
2 p/w to PEK
1 p/w to TSN
4 weekly by Chinese carriers and 5 weekly by JU.
DeleteIt will be 5-5. Hainan is likely to increase to 3 weekly.
DeleteJU actually has rights for 3 weekly to Guangzhou. If the route works out I expect they will add the extra frequency next summer.
DeleteNext winter. The rumoured additions to JU long haul will keep all 4 A330's busy on North American routes. JU seems to prefer China expansion in the early winter season which is a great move.
DeleteWhen is MU expecting to launch BEG?
ReplyDeleteNo one ever said MU is planning to launch BEG.
DeleteWell EU and Austria just denied them additional flights because Russia overflights. BEG seems logical given the visa free regime for PRC citizens to Serbia.
DeleteThe more the better in my opinion.
DeleteHope to see them in BEG soon.
DeleteDoes this schedule allow for good connections from/to Australia? China Southern flies to many cities in Australia. It would be a great alternative to Qatar Airways which we are all using at the moment to get to Belgrade but the fares this year have been outrageous.
ReplyDeleteMixed bag depending on destination. But if they have a codeshare with JU then you can easily mix the two and have excellent connections on all flights from and to Australia.
DeleteJU codeshares to Australia are not competitive and quadruple the codeshare partner price. Have a look at JU codeshare with Qatar. I am hoping that CZ's entry onto Australia-BEG route will force EK and QR to reduce their own prices.
DeleteI really hope so. Return fares are close to 2000 euros with QR from/to Australia.
DeleteFares are expensive on QR because their Belgrade flights are packed. Every day there is an overbooking on their flights. If they had more aircraft they would add more frequencies
DeleteBut QR is still cheaper than JU on the same exact flights. What gives?
DeleteThe codeshare JU sell has crazy prices. It is 3 to 4 times more expensive. I really wonder if some clueless person actually books it rather than directly with QR.
DeleteNice!
ReplyDeleteGreat to see another wide body operator at BEG.
ReplyDeleteHopefully more to come.
DeleteQR will be next wide body operator at BEG.
DeleteThat would be fantastic
DeleteMuch better would be QR to increase frequencies to 10-14 weekly instead of keeping 7 weekly and upgrading to B788.
DeleteQR isn't going to send regular scheduled widebody to BEG. They will go for frequencies rather than capacity which we saw previously not just in BEG but other cities in our vicinity.
DeleteThey have started sending widebody to Budapest.
DeleteKina je ogromno tržište i Srbija to mora da iskoristi , na sve načine !
ReplyDeleteGood news I guess. More choice
ReplyDeleteOf course it's good news. Any airport getting the world's sixth largest airline, which will operate with a wide body on a year round basis is great news.
DeleteIt is a shame that out of all big cities in China they decided to launch flights from the same city as JU, at virtually the same time.
ReplyDeleteWell Guangzhou is their home.
DeleteAnd so they became a hub...
DeleteHuh?
DeleteI doubt JU is very happy about this. I mean sure, they will do a codeshare and cooperate but I'm sure they would much rather China Southern never launched flights.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely not happy about it!
DeleteDemand is ao high, so there is a space for everyone. And it will be even higher when the flights commence
DeleteSure but I think JU would be the one in the position to increase flights to 4 weekly.
DeleteThe cooperation can only help JU as it will improve their sales in China on Chinese platforms. JU's flights also offer a tonne of additional European capacity for Guangzhou via BEG that China Southern can't do on its own so a European partner is also beneficial to them.
DeleteThey want to join OneWorld. What makes you think they need JU as a partner in Europe?
DeleteMore choice in connectivity and less backtracking. South Eastern and Eastern Europe isn't well connected with One World when compared to other alliances.
DeleteAnd their JV with AF/KLM and their existing codeshares with BA, IB and AY mean nothing?
DeleteBEG is going to need to expand. When JU starts Miami next year how are they are going to handle the situation of 4 widebodies at the same time? Even without Miami, in peak summer there will be China Southern, Air Serbia to Chicago and Air Serbia to New York departing around the same time on Wednesdays.
ReplyDeleteOn the apron with bus gates...?
DeleteThat's is going to be difficult too with 10 ATRs parked on B platform at the time of CZ's arrival in BEG, as well as a fully occupied E platform by Austrian, Air Montenegro and often Lufthansa. The only way they can park on a platform is to use the deicing platform.
DeleteThese China Southern flights arrive and depart at a lighter period at BEG. The main morning wave is finished by then and the midday wave hasn't started as flights from the morning wave are only begining to arrive at that time. There is alot of gate space at that time. JU's new CAN service also uses the midnight wave which has alot of gate space so no issues there. Currently there isn't more than 2 widebodies parked at the gates. However Vinci should reconsider the C apron expansion as a 4 gate expansion isn't going to be adequate going forward.
DeleteLast quarter of the year shaping up as strong one for BEG.
ReplyDeleteYes. Let's hope JU adds some new short haul destinations.
DeleteJU will soon announce winter expansion.
DeleteConsidering it is mid August, they should really move it along and put tickets on sale if they plan any new routes.
DeleteFirst of the China BIG 3 airlines at BEG
ReplyDeleteI would love to see either Air China or China Southern join them.
DeleteChina Southern is going to fly. Do you mean China Eastern?
DeleteYes sorry, meant China Eastern
DeleteWill China Southern have a shorter flying time than Air Serbia on this route considering Air Serbia avoids Russian airspace on China flights?
ReplyDeleteBEG-CAN route does not overfly Siberia. It enters Russian airspace only in the Caucasus region.
DeleteThey can reroute that via Georgia and Azerbaijan if necessary.
DeleteBoth airlines will most likely avoid Russian airspace because that region, where the shortest route enters Russia, is warzone and no-fly zone.
DeleteI like the livery. Only their 787s are painted like this
ReplyDeleteDoes Air Serbia have a codeshare with any Chinese airline?
ReplyDeleteYes, with Air China
DeleteThey used to have it with Hainan too pre Covid.
DeleteI think it was a pretty louse codeshare. HU only had codes to Skopje and I'm not sure if JU had it one PEK-PRG-BEG.
DeleteI flew with MU 3-4 times. They provide an excellent service in business class!
ReplyDeleteChina Southern is CZ not MU. China Eastern is MU.
DeleteI have flown both and they are quite similar. I think MU is the seventh largest airline in the world at the moment. So similar size at CZ
DeleteMaybe there will be surprises, not only Guangzhou?
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice but I think for now it's only Guangzhou.
DeleteWhat other destination could be potentially launched besides the one that we have/are getting?
DeleteHonestly China Southern is miles better than Air Serbia service wise. Between the two I would choose China Southern.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see if there is a major difference in fares between the two.
DeleteFor JU's sake they should be similar or JU slightly cheaper.
DeleteOne thing I don't understand is why do Chinese airlines start sales for new routes just days before they launch?
ReplyDeleteOften they put tickets on sale through other channels in advance before it goes on sale through their website.
DeleteCan't wait
ReplyDeleteThey have nice cabins on the B787. Just had a look online. 1-2-1 seating in business too.
ReplyDeleteSame as what JU will have
DeleteBut the 787 is wider than the A330-200 so the seats I expect are wider too.
DeleteAlso, the bleedless engines mean that the cabin is much fresher and the pressurisation is much better and there is no engine air being mixed with cabin air. Whenever I fly the dreamliner, I feel much more refreshed after arrival.
Delete