China Southern left SkyTeam at the beginning of the year, and since then there have been rumours that the airline is likely to join the rival oneworld alliance. These were dismissed out of hand by the Chinese carrier's management. The news was confirmed at the recent IATA General Assembly in Seoul. China Southern Airlines is certainly aiming to become the world's leading carrier over the next three years, but this is not the end of the story. step up will be achieved through airline-to airline agreements, such as those recently signed with Emirates for code-sharing on the Canton-Dubai route and with Finnair for the Canton-Helsinki route.
In this context, the code sharing extends to Finnair flights to Amsterdam, Billund, Copenhagen, Göteborg, London, Paris, Riga and Stockholm, while Finnair will be able to offer its passengers connecting flights to several Chinese cities, including Changsha, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Xiamen and Xian. Similarly, the agreement with Emirates is set to be extended to Chinese regional flights offered by China Southern and to certain Emirates routes from Dubai, notably to Cairo, Lagos and several destinations on the Arabian Peninsula.
According to Wu Guoxiang, China Southern's Senior Vice President for International and Corporate Relations, China Southern would remain independent.for a few years perhaps". "In three to five years, we'll be the world's largest carrier. We need the flexibility to work together as we want to"China Southern's vice-president added. The airline plans to have a fleet of 1,000 aircraft by 2021, which should double again by 2035.
