China Southern Airlines has signed a commercial agreement with Qantas Airways that is predicted to boost inbound travel from China.

Qantas crew join forces with China Southern crew

The agreement includes codeshare flights and expands travel opportunities for passengers on China Southern flights into Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to fly on the Qantas domestic network to seven Australian destinations including Cairns, Adelaide and Canberra.

Qantas passengers can fly with China Southern from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth to its main hub of Baiyun International Airport Guangzhou then onward to four major Chinese destinations – Xiamen, Kunming, Fuzhou and Urumqi.

The two airlines have also agreed to investigate other areas of potential cooperation, including pilot training assistance from Qantas and cargo opportunities.

China Southern Airline Chairman Si Xianmin  said, “We welcome this move because it will give our passengers greater access to Australia and will also open up Australian tourism to a leisure and business market that is growing by nearly 20 per cent a year.”

Today’s agreement with Qantas is a major new step in China Southern’s development of the Australian marketplace.  The new codeshare services are expected to be available for booking and travel from early 2014 subject to regulatory approval.