China Southern to receive first Dreamliner on 2 June
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China Southern Airlines has revealed that its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner is due to touch down in Guangzhou on Sunday 2 June 2013.
The landmark aircraft, which will be the first B787 delivered to a Chinese airline, will operate in a three-cabin configuration with a total of 228 seats – four in first class, 24 in business class and 200 in economy class.
Chinese customers won’t be able to sample the Dreamliner immediately however; under Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) rules, the aircraft must conduct 25 hours of tests in China before it can enter commercial service. Following this, it will be put into operation on domestic routes between Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai, before being rolled out on international routes later on.
Meanwhile another Chinese B787 customer, Hainan Airlines, will operate its Dreamliners in a two-class configuration with 213 seats – 36 in business class and 177 in economy. According to the airline’s official Weibo site, the new aircraft will initially operate on the domestic Beijing-Haikou, Beijing-Shanghai and Beijing-Chengdu routes, before being deployed on long-haul routes to Chicago and Toronto.
Both China Southern and Hainan Airlines have ordered 10 Dreamliners. China Southern will become the first airline in the world to operate both the B787 and Airbus A380.