Power flex: China Southern Airlines grows Australian network

By Andrew Curran.

China Southern Airlines closed out 2025 with a significant expansion of its Australia services, cementing itself as the country's dominant Chinese airline.

In addition to increasing its existing year-round flights to Brisbane (BNE) and Sydney (SYD), China Southern announced that its regular seasonal flights to Adelaide (ADL) and Perth (PER) will become permanent.

When the added flights are fully bedded down, China Southern Airlines will operate at least 51 weekly round-trips between its Guangzhou (CAN) hub and its six Australian ports. The frequencies will increase to over 70 round-trips during peak periods.

China Southern goes triple daily to Sydney

In December, China Southern confirmed it would add an extra daily service to Sydney during the 2026 northern summer season, taking its year-round services to Sydney to three per day. Thrice daily round-trips will temporarily increase to four over the Chinese New Year period. Sydney Airport says this marks the highest frequency ever on the route and sets up the airport as the airline's largest market in the Southwest Pacific.

“It’s a strong vote of confidence in Sydney,” says Greg Botham, Sydney Airport’s head of aviation growth and group strategy.

More precisely, the frequencies to Sydney match what China Southern operated to the airport before Covid-19. However, unlike that era, when Chinese carriers were capacity dumping into Australia and, in the case of China Southern, operating A380-800s into Sydney, all of China Southern's 2026 Sydney flights will be operated by smaller B787-9s.

Brisbane Airport China Southern flights go double daily

Brisbane Airport will see its daily China Southern A350-900 service permanently increase to double daily from March 30, 2025. The extra flights, which are coming about with Queensland State Government help, will add an extra 114,000 seats annually in and out of Brisbane.

Jason Sun, China Southern's regional general manager, says the carrier’s double dailies to the Queensland capital are a response to the growing demand for business, tourism, cultural exchange, and family travel between the Greater Bay Area and Brisbane.

“This capacity enhancement reflects our long-term confidence in Queensland market,” he said.

Year-round China Southern flights to Adelaide and Perth

Also in December, China Southern Airlines committed to a permanent presence to Adelaide and Brisbane Airports.

Jonathan Cheong, head of aviation business development at Adelaide Airport, said the news was “a call that we have been waiting for.”

Perth Airport’s chief commercial and aviation officer Kate Holsgrove said China Southern Airlines’ commitment to a year-round service followed the success of the airline’s seasonal flights to the airport.

“China currently represents Western Australia’s fourth largest international market by visitor number… so a non-stop connection to China achieves an important objective for Western Australia’s tourism industry,” Holsgrove said.

China Southern’s Adelaide and Perth flights are operated by 297-passenger two cabin class B787-9s.

No changes to China Southern's Melbourne flights

China Southern’s other Australian ports are Melbourne (MEL) and Darwin (DRW). The B737-8-operated Darwin flights only began in December 2025 but are year-round services.

Meanwhile, Melbourne Airport may emerge as the also-ran in China Southern’s Australian network. Currently, the airline operates a mix of aircraft types and varies frequencies into Australia’s second biggest airport.

Throughout January and February 2026, China Southern is putting on three daily round-trips to Melbourne using A330-300s and A350-900s. In early March, this drops to two daily round-trips, one using the A350-900, and the second operated by a B787-9.

At the end of the current northern winter season, the B787-9 takes over all Melbourne flights and frequencies reduce to ten per week. However, given the recent spate of service improvement announcements concerning its other Australian airports, China Southern’s Melbourne services may change.

China Southern the dominant Chinese carrier in Australia

According to the most recent Australian Government statistics dealing with international airlines, China Southern Airlines carried 80,465 passengers in and out of Australia in September 2025 and had an average passenger load of 89.55%.

Of the nine Chinese passengers flying into Australia, China Southern is the largest when measured by both frequency and seat capacity. Its nearest rival is China Eastern Airlines, which flies to three Australian airports and offered 78,494 seats in and out of Australia in September, filling 85.2% of them.

Photo: Brisbane Airport Corporation.

Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com