On November 23, China Southern Airlines presented in the capital the new Guangzhou-Wuhan-Rome airline which will be inaugurated on December 16th. Initially the connection will pass through Wuhan but will subsequently be directed to Canton. The event, organized in collaboration with Welcome Chinese, was attended by Representatives of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China, the Chinese Permanent Representation of FAO, Chinese local administrations, the main Italian partners and other important personalities. A second presentation will take place on Wednesday 25 November in Milan.
The expansion in Europe therefore continues China's largest airline by fleet and number of passengers. Rome represents the eighth European airport and the first in Southern Europe, after Paris, Amsterdam, London, Frankfurt, Moscow, Istanbul and St. Petersburg.
A new flight that represents a further milestone for Rome Fiumicino airport, certified Welcome Chinese, which today can count on 28 connecting flights with China and which, thanks to the Canton-based giant, will be able to further implement its offer.
China Southern Airlines is the Chinese air transport company with the largest number of aircraft (612), the first for the number of passengers carried (more than 100 million in 2014 alone) and for performance relating to flight safety, the network among the most developed in the international panorama of civil aviation. The Company boasts over 80 employees and reaches 1.052 destinations worldwide, connecting 177 countries.
It currently ranks first in Asia and fifth worldwide in fleet size. China Southern Airlines has also tightened a collaboration agreement with Alitalia which will allow the Chinese company to serve the entire Italian territory. By combining the services of the two allied companies, passengers will be able to reach any Italian airport or travel throughout Europe with the possibility of connecting to their flights to China from anywhere. The two companies are currently negotiating to reach a co-sharing agreement which will probably be operational from March 2016. "The agreement - explained Li Dongliang, Senior Vice President Sales Division - provides for China Southern Airlines the possibility of reaching 29 destinations from Rome to national and international airports, and for Alitalia to increase 7 other destinations in China such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shebyang, Qungdao, Wenzhou, Chengdu.”
We emphasize that the Asian company is listed on the New York, Hong Kong and Shanghai Stock Exchanges and from a financial point of view the latest results were not too encouraging: in the third quarter of 2015 the company recorded net profits down 48,4%, to 1,17 billion yuan ($186 million).
