The new service begins April 8 and will use Airbus A330-200 aircraft.

With launch of the new service, China Southern will be the first airline company in mainland China to provide direct air transportation to New Zealand.

Mr. Kevin Bowler, CEO Tourism New Zealand, said that “I see great opportunities for closer tourism links between our two countries. New Zealand currently welcomes more than 123,000 visitors from China each year, making it New Zealand’s fourth-largest visitor market after Australia, the UK and USA. China is also one of New Zealand's fastest growing visitor market and many New Zealand tourism businesses are excited about the future of tourism between our two countries.”

He added that, “developments such as this new China Southern Airlines direct connection between Guangzhou and Auckland help foster even stronger links between China and New Zealand in tourism and in education, and in business, bringing both our countries closer together.”

Mr. Tan Wan’geng, President & CEO of China Southern Airlines said, “As China’s economy continues to grow and exchanges between China and New Zealand deepen, the number of passengers travelling between the two nations is quickly rising. We are pleased to announce that China Southern will launch this new Guangzhou-Auckland service in the 2011 Summer/Autumn schedule with three initial weekly flights and there will be a gradual increase of flight frequency as markets mature.”

He added that, “the aviation marketplace in Oceania where China Southern has distinctive advantages has been of significant importance to our airline. We estimate that by 2015, China Southern will be operating more than 110 weekly return flights to Oceania and offering Oceania connections to Europe, the US, Japan, Korea and the Middle East via our Guangzhou hub with the goal of developing Guangzhou into one of the best transit points for passengers travelling between Oceania and the rest of the world.”