By Joanne Chiu
HONG KONG--China Southern Airlines Co. (1055.HK), the nation's
biggest carrier by fleet size, has shelved talks with Air China
Ltd. (0753.HK) to jointly operate Airbus A380 superjumbo jets on
long haul flights from Beijing, China Southern's Chief Financial
Officer Xu Jiebo said Thursday.
Instead, the Guangzhou-based carrier, which is the only Chinese
carrier to operate the world's biggest commercial airliner with a
fleet of five, has decided to operate the jets between Guangzhou
and Sydney starting from the latter half of this year, said Mr.
Xu.
The airline also flies the aircraft on its Guangzhou to Los
Angeles route as well as other domestic routes.
Mr. Xu also expects the carrier to take delivery of the first of
its Boeing 787 jets as early as late May after the aircraft gets
approval from the Chinese aviation regulator to operate the planes
with Chinese airlines.
Write to Joanne Chiu at joanne.chiu@wsj.com
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