China Southern confirms delivery of fourth A380, operating on Guangzhou-Shanghai Pudong

China Southern Airlines confirmed (07-Sep-2012) the carrier is scheduled to take delivery of its fourth A380 aircraft on 15-Sep-2012 with the aircraft to enter service on 16-Sep-2012 operating on Guangzhou-Shanghai Pudong sector, replacing A320 aircraft. As previously reported, the A380 service is scheduled to operate until 27-Oct-2012. The carrier operates three times daily on the route at present. China Southern is the largest operator on the sector, ahead of China Eastern Airlines and Air China, while China Eastern, China Southern, Shanghai Airlines, Spring Airlines, Air China and Juneyao Airlines also operate on Guangzhou-Shanghai Hongqiao sector. Separately, China Southern Airlines company secretary Xie Bing reportedly stated losses from the carrier's A380 operations were under CNY100 million (USD15.6 million) in the first six months of this year, as reported by China Business and China Broadcasting. According to Mr Xie, the carrier's A380 Beijing-Guangzhou service is in line with expectations with load factor averaging less than 80% while A380 Beijing-Hong Kong service is comparatively worse. [more - original PR - Chinese]