China Southern was the only carrier to operate regular commercial service with the Airbus A380 throughout the worst of this ongoing global health crisis. Now, with the addition of Seoul Incheon (South Korea), the Chinese operator is flying the superjumbo to another city, adding to its short list of destinations. Here’s what we know so far.
Once weekly service to Seoul Incheon
With service having already commenced as of August 20th, China Southern will fly an Airbus A380 every Thursday from its hub in Guangzhou (CAN) to Seoul Incheon International Airport (ICN).
Data from FlightRadar24 shows that the outbound flight (CZ337) will depart CAN at 09:35 and arrive at ICN at 13:55, making for a schedule flight duration of three hours and 20 minutes. Including taxiing, the gate-to-gate time should be closer to four hours.
The return journey will be flight CZ338, departing at 16:55, arriving back in Guangzhou at 19:35. All times listed above are local.
According to RoutesOnline.com, this weekly A380 service has been scheduled through to October 24th.
Making a short list slightly longer
This most recent addition of Seoul Incheon as a China Southern A380 route makes the total number of A380 destinations for the carrier seven. The destinations are as follows:
- Amsterdam – AMS (CZ307 and CZ308)
- London Heathrow – LHR (CZ303 and CZ304)
- Los Angeles – LAX (CZ327 and CZ328)
- Paris Charles de Gaulle – CDG (CZ347 and CZ348)
- Seoul – ICN (CZ337 and CZ338)
- Sydney -SYD (CZ325 and CZ326)
- Vancouver – YVR (CZ329 and CZ330)
Historically we’ve seen China Southern operate a Guangzhou-Beijing service with the A380. However, this has yet to resume.
More and more A380s in the air
While Asiana might only be running its A380s as ghost flights for now, there are overall more A380s taking to the skies than a few months ago. All five of China Southern’s A380s are operating out of Guangzhou to seven destinations, while Emirates has resumed A380 service to cities like London, Guangzhou, and Toronto.
For Emirates, Amsterdam was on the original list of A380 resumption routes, but the carrier appears to have temporarily backed down on this plan. The Dubai-based airline removed the superjumbo from its Amsterdam route for the time being. The airline cited its decision as due to ensuring optimal commercial utilization of its fleet.
As for other A380 operators such as Korean Air, Singapore Airlines, Qantas, and Qatar Airways – their superjumbos remain in long-term storage, scattered across the world from Doha, to Alice Springs (Australia), to California.
Which city do you think will be next on the list for an A380 return? And which airline? Let us know your predictions by leaving a comment!
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