China Southern Airlines

China Southern Airlines

China Southern Airlines Company Limited (simplified Chinese: 中国南方航空公司; traditional Chinese: 中國南方航空公司) (SSE: 600029, SEHK: 1055, NYSE: ZNH) is an airline headquartered in Baiyun District, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, People's Republic of China. It is the world's sixth-largest airline measured by passengers carried, and Asia's largest airline in terms of both fleet size and passengers carried. It is also the fourth-largest airline in the world in domestic passenger traffic and the sixth-largest in scheduled domestic passenger-kilometres flown. From its main hubs at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and Beijing Capital International Airport, the airline flies to 121 destinations using a fleet of 422 aircraft.

China Southern Airlines was established on 1 July 1988 following the restructuring of the Civil Aviation Administration of China. Since then, the airline acquired and merged with a number of domestic airlines, becoming one of China's "Big Three" airlines (alongside Air China and China Eastern Airlines). China Southern Airlines is a member of SkyTeam. The airlines's logo is a red kapok on a blue vertical tail fin.

In 2010, China Southern Airlines carried 76.5 million domestic and international passengers with an average load factor of 79.2%. The airline reported a net profit of CNY5.8 billion ($883 million) in 2010.