China Southern Airlines eyes Brazil and Argentina destinations to expand its global reach
Asia’s largest carrier by passengers flown also plans to start a Johannesburg service in the wake of its 2015 inauguration of Nairobi flights
China Southern Airlines will soon be landing on all of the world’s human-inhabited continents.
Asia’s largest carrier in terms of passengers flown plans to establish passenger routes to Brazil and Argentina within the next five years, completing its worldwide reach, senior vice president of marketing Wu Guoxiang said in an interview.
Meanwhile, the airline also plans to start passenger service to Johannesburg, South Africa, after inaugurating service to Nairobi, Kenya in 2015, to build out its reach in Africa. The airline expects to have passenger service to three to five destinations each in South America and Africa within the next five years, Wu said.
China Southern is making the “transfer market” a key component of its network expansion, referring to the strategy that helped make Emirates Airline one of the world’s most formidable competitors among global airlines.
Leveraging its large domestic market – at the centre of a rapidly urbanising megalopolis with a population of more than 100 million people – gives China Southern an edge over other airlines pursuing growth by developing a transfer market, Wu said. Higher passenger volume relative to other carriers in the region gives China Southern the ability to entice customers looking for the cheapest way to cross hemispheres.