China Southern to Open Direct Flight from Changsha to Frankfurt on June 23
By Alan Wang, China Aviation Daily | May 04, 2014
On May 4, China Southern Airlines Co., Ltd. (CZ) signed an agreement with Hunan Provincial Government to cooperate on its Guangzhou-Changsha-Frankfurt route. The Guangzhou-based airline announced to launch its long-awaited Guangzhou-Changsha-Frankfurt round-trip service from June 23, marking it the first direct passenger flight linking Germany and Central China's Hunan Province.
China Southern plans to operate the Guangzhou-Changsha-Frankfurt service three times weekly, using Airbus A330-200 aircraft with flight numbers CZ331/332. It is learnt that the outbound flight will be available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; while the inbound flight on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Specifically, the Frankfurt-bound flight CZ331 is scheduled to take off from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN) at 9:30 p.m. and arrive in Frankfurt at 6:00 a.m. the next day, with a stopover in Changsha from 10:45 p.m. to 11:55 p.m.; while the return flight CZ332 will depart from Frankfurt at 2:15 p.m. and land in Guangzhou at 9:15 a.m. the next day, with a stopover in Changsha from 6:45 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. (all local time).
As the first direct flight between Changsha and Europe, the launch of China Southern's Guangzhou-Changsha-Frankfurt service will build an air bridge between Hunan province and the European countries, providing passengers with an efficient and direct choice. Meanwhile, China Southern is set to launch air-rail combined services in Germany, by which Chinese passengers can reach more German cities and regions by taking high-speed railways at Frankfurt, which is the one of world's largest airports.
Currently passengers in the province traveling to Europe have to take connecting flights via Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing. The new direct flight will help Hunan passengers save 5 to 8 hours of transferring, as well as cut their costs by 1,000 yuan to 3,000 yuan.
With the opening of Guangzhou-Changsha-Frankfurt route, China Southern will expand its European passenger network covering Paris, Amsterdam, London, Moscow, Istanbul and Frankfurt. Meanwhile, its scheduled passenger flights between China and Europe will be increased to 45 per week, which would further improve the airline's "Canton Route" network of Australia-Europe services.
In addition, the new Guangzhou-Changsha-Frankfurt service fills the blank of no direct flights to Germany from South Central China, to provide a more convenient choice for passengers and accelerate economic and social development of Hunan Province.
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