China Southern extends Southwest Pacific cuts to late 3Q26

By Andrew Curran

China Southern Airlines has extended its planned South-West Pacific service reductions for the upcoming winter through to late September.

As reported by AeroRoutes, the previously announced cuts, typical during the Southern Hemisphere winter, were originally scheduled to run only until mid-June.

The reductions affect all of China Southern’s South-West Pacific destinations except Adelaide (ADL) and Port Moresby (POM).

Six out of eight airport affected

Accordingly, services to Auckland (AKL), Brisbane (BNE), Darwin (DRW), Melbourne (MEL), Perth (PER), and Sydney (SYD) will all be reduced, with the first changes taking effect later this month. The changes include:

• Guangzhou (CAN)–Auckland round trips decreasing from 10 to nine per week between 18 May and 30 September.
• Guangzhou–Brisbane services falling from 14 to 12 weekly round trips from 7 May, followed by further reductions over the next two months to nine weekly round trips from 14 July, with no increases planned until 30 September.
• Guangzhou–Darwin services reducing to one weekly round trip from 29 April, as previously noted by Aero South Pacific in its Route Briefs. The airline will now maintain this frequency through to 30 June. 
• Guangzhou–Melbourne services decreasing from 14 to 13 weekly round trips from 6 May, before falling to 11 per week from 3 July. These changes will remain in place until 30 September.
• Guangzhou–Perth services, previously reduced from three to two weekly round trips between 11 May and 11 June, will see the same reduction applied again between 24 June and 16 September.
• Guangzhou–Sydney services, currently operating three times daily, will be reduced to between 18 and 19 weekly round trips (depending on the week) from 29 April to 26 May. Services will briefly return to triple-daily levels before dropping again to 19 weekly round trips from 18 June and 17 weekly round trips from 1 July, with these changes remaining in place until 30 September.
• China Southern’s three-times-weekly services to Adelaide and Port Moresby remain unchanged. The airline’s Christchurch (CHC) services are not scheduled to resume until late October.

Service cuts typical as demand slows over winter

Measured by both aircraft movements and passenger numbers, China Southern is the largest of the nine mainland Chinese scheduled passenger airlines operating to Australia.

The latest Australian Government data on international passenger and aircraft movements, covering November 2025, shows China Southern operated 182 round trips to Australia that month, carrying 99,359 passengers with an average load factor of 91.4%.

However, reflecting the seasonal nature of traffic between Australia and China, the airline operated 158 round trips in July last year, carrying 78,429 passengers with an average load factor of 85.5%.

Other mainland Chinese carriers serving Australia include China Eastern Airlines, Air China, Beijing Capital Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Juneyao Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, Tianjin Airlines, and Xiamen Airlines.

Four mainland Chinese airlines, Air China, China Eastern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, and China Southern Airlines , also operate services to New Zealand.

Papua New Guinea remains the only other South-West Pacific country served by a mainland Chinese passenger airline, via China Southern’s flights to Port Moresby.

Last year, China Southern explored extending its Port Moresby service to Port Vila (VLI), including operating a trial round trip. However, no further developments have been announced.

Earlier this month, China Eastern Airlines and several other smaller Chinese carriers announced service reductions to the Southern Pacific over the 2026 winter.

Photo: Brisbane Airport.

Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.