World Airline Awards Honors China’s Largest Carrier
HAMBURG, Germany - April 13, 2009 - China Southern Airlines, (NYSE: ZNH, HKSE: 1055, SHA 600029) - www.csair.com/global - the newest member of SkyTeam and the largest airline in The People’s Republic of China has been named Best Airline China 2009 in The SKYTRAX World Airline Awards™.
The honor recognizes China Southern’s quality of service and size of network, reflecting its continued growth as a quality international airline company.
The annual SKYTRAX World Airline Awards™ (www.worldairlineawards.com) are among the most highly regarded in the industry, with the results based on surveys of more than 15 million air passengers from nearly 97 nationalities conducted over 10 months, between August 2008 and March 2009.
Mr. Edward Plaisted, Chief Executive, SKYTRAX, said “the awards, now in their 10th year, were renowned for being the only truly global, independent passenger survey of airline standards”.
China Southern scored high in varied categories ranging from flight safety, in-flight service, ground service, size of network and brand image.
China Southern Airlines currently operates 342 modern Boeing 777, 747, 757, 737 and Airbus A330, 321, 320, 319 and 300 jet aircraft serving destinations to 905 cities in 169 countries, forming an extensive network, with Guangzhou and Beijing as its hubs, covering all of China and radiating throughout Asia with convenient connections to all main cities in the world via close cooperation with all the SkyTeam member airlines.
In 2008, China Southern Airlines carried nearly 58 Million passengers, being ranked world #4 and Asia #1 and the only one Asian airline listed in the Top 5 from China; ranked as the largest airline in China for 30 consecutive years and is the only carrier in mainland China entering into the world’s Top 10 passenger airlines.
China Southern Airlines is the aviation marketing leader in China and is renowned for its numerous branded services such as The Sky Pearl Club Frequent Flyer program; First & Business Class VIP Lounges Ground Service; China Southern Connections Service and “95539” Customer Service & Call Center Hot Line.
About SKYTRAX
The World Airline Awards™ are based on the World Airline Survey by SKYTRAX - www.worldairlineawards.com - carried out between August 2008 and March 2009.
The SKYTRAX World Airline Awards™ celebrated its 10th anniversary with 500 people attending the ceremony in Hamburg to see the winning airlines receive their accolades here in Hamburg.
More than 16.2 million travelers participated in the Survey over an eight month period with more than 97 different passenger nationalities taking part, it is not difficult to see why The World Airline Awards™ are highly regarded, recognized and quoted across the globe.
The survey measures over 35 different aspects of passenger satisfaction for an airline's product and service standards - evaluating the 'typical' travel experience.
The World Airline Survey is regarded as the primary benchmarking tool for passenger satisfaction levels of airlines throughout the world - constituting a unique survey format based upon analysis of both business and leisure travelers and across all cabin travel types (First, Business, Premium Economy & Economy Class passengers).
About China Southern Airlines
The newest member of SkyTeam - www.skyteam.com - and the largest airline in The People’s Republic of China for the past 30 years, China Southern Airlines - www.csair.com/global - connects more than 80 cities around the globe. Major business and vacation destinations served in China include: Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Guilin, Hong Kong, Kunming, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Wuhan and as well as International service, including: Amsterdam, Bangkok, Fukuoka, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Islamabad, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Lagos, Los Angeles, Manila, Melbourne, Moscow, Osaka, Paris, Penang, Phnom Penh, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.