Destination Report: Henan Province, China - China Southern Airlines

Continuing my series of articles on my recent visit to Henan proving in China, this one focuses on visiting China Southern Airlines and meeting with senior management.

China Southern Airlines is the largest airline in China and it owns seven subsidiaries, including Henan Airlines and China Southern Cargo; it also has 71 international sales offices. HNCA owns 40% of the Zhengzhou arm of the passenger airline.

The weekly direct flights between Luxembourg and Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, commenced last December (see https://chronicle.lu/category/travel-1/47951-air-silk-road-opened-as-inaugural-direct-passenger-flight-to-china-departs-from-luxembourg), with an Airbus 350 flying into Luxembourg late on Thursday evening and departing again on Friday mid-afternoon on its ten and a half hour flight.

Last Thursday's flight was mainly families returning to China for the summer, in economy class, with few business class seats occupied. I had a premium economy ticket which meant I had ample legroom and nobody in the seat beside me - flying in an Airbus 350 was certainly more comfortable than a Boeing for such a long-haul flight. There was a comprehensive selection of films and TV shows on the entertainment system which also showed the flight path - over Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki, before flying over northern Russia, then the Ural mountains and the Gobi desert, and Ulaanbaatar (the capital of Mongolia) before reaching its destination. The food and drinks were fairly decent, although I would have appreciated the breakfast served closer to the landing time instead of four hours before the landing time of 07:00 (local time).

The return flight, during the day the following Thursday (departing 14:50 local time; arriving 20:20 local time) was much busier, with a flight time of just under ten hours.

The decision to open the Zhengzhou to Luxembourg passenger route followed the one to London which opened in 2019; the December 2023 opening of the Luxembourg route would have been much earlier had it not been for the pandemic. Both were opened following extensive market research, with Luxembourg being selected as it is the "economic centre of Europe" as described to me, and it is also within the Schengen Zone which makes it easy for tourists to travel on from Luxembourg on mainland Europe. Another factor was that many Chinese students study abroad near Luxembourg, and seven Chinese banks have set up their European headquarters in the Grand Duchy.

By the end of June, the airline had flown 26 flights in and out of Luxembourg airport, and its strategy is to increase its load capacity in the future. Currently it works with Euro-Asie and the ACL who organise a number of tours to the Henan province.

Like HNCA, it was confirmed to me that China Southern Airlines aims to support economic, culture and tourism exchanges.

Its European office is established in Amsterdam.

For the main / introductory article on my trip to Henan, please click here.