China Southern will begin flying its Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Perth from April 1, and will also boost the number of flights to Melbourne and Brisbane as the airline seeks to carve out a larger slice of the Australian market.
Melbourne will see a double-daily service to China Southern's Guangzhou hub from July 1, up from the current 10 flights a week, while Brisbane steps up to a daily service (current five flights each week) from June 23.
A China Southern spokesperson confirmed the Dreamliner's April debut to Australian Business Traveller, with the advanced jet replacing the current Airbus A330 on the thrice-weekly flights.
The Boeing 787 offers passengers a substantially more enjoyable ride than any other commercial jet thanks to a quieter cabin, ride-smoothing technology, clearer filtered air, higher cabin humidity and lower effective cabin altitude, which also contribute to reducing jetlag when you step off the plane.
Dreamliner's delights
Air New Zealand, Scoot and Thai Airways also fly Boeing 787s from Perth to their respective hubs of Auckland, Singapore and Bangkok.
However, China Southern is one of the few airlines in the world to include a first class in its Boeing 787 – albeit with just four seats.
Each is 26 inches (67 cm) wide and at 78 inches when converted into a fully-flat bed, it's just shy of the two metre mark.
Passengers also get a private hand luggage bin, AC and USB power outlets, noise-cancelling headphones and a 17 inch screen built into the far end of the seat's shell.
The jet's 24 business class seats are spread across two cabins of a dozen seats each, in a standard 2-2-2 layout.
There are few surprises here: it's a fully-flat seat, albeit at a slightly shorter 74 inches (188 cm), with 20 inch (51 cm) seat width and an 84 inch (213 cm) pitch.
A 'magazine shelf' and shoe stowage area plus 15 inch video screen and USB port are all part of the deal.
However, China Southern hasn't included an AC power outlet on its list of business class features – we've yet to determine if this is merely an oversight or if indeed laptop power is limited to first class seats.
Stuck at the back of the Dreamliner bus? Make yourself as comfy as you can in the 3-3-3 seating.
At 17.2 inches (44 cm) across, with a seat pitch of 31-33 inches (79-84 cm) and a 6 inch (15 cm) recline, we suggest you pack a pair of noise-cancelling headphones, fire up the 9 inch seatback video screen or dive into a slab of BYO entertainment on your tablet, and count down the hours until you land.
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David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.
12 Feb 2015
Total posts 91
David I think you mean the 787 has a lower effective cabin altitude, which is actually a higher cabin pressure that is closer to sea level presure.
24 Oct 2010
Total posts 2555
You're quite right, I've written enough about the passenger experience of the 787 to have no excuse for that silly slip!
Thai Airways International - Royal Orchid Plus
16 May 2011
Total posts 113
I'm not disagreeing with you David, but PER can hardly be considered 'Australia's Dreamliner capital', MEL has BI, JQ, UA, AI and soon TZ, whilst SYD has JQ, AI and soon TZ, LA and MF. On top of that, components for 787's are made in Boeing's Melbourne plant, JQ has its 787 maintenance base in MEL also and to top it off UA operates the longest 787 route in the world, being MEL-LAX.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
19 Feb 2014
Total posts 444
United is an insult to the 787 anyway with that dreadful product. As for AI, wont be long before they're scrapping them....;)
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
21 Aug 2014
Total posts 503
Never fly International AI, only Domestic within India is good, from my memory in 2010 they did serve food on flights from Mumbai to Hyderabad and vice versa.
24 Apr 2014
Total posts 271
I like the UA 787 Business product from MEL
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
16 Jul 2014
Total posts 20
Does anyone know if it will become a daily services rather than a 2-3time weekly?
Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer
06 Feb 2014
Total posts 69
How come MEL is the last to get dreamliners and Perth gets them First?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
09 Sep 2013
Total posts 187
Roger - perhaps Melbourne is losing its status as the centre of the universe? Having said that, please don't begrudge Perth being first at something. Given we can't get a Q flight out of Perth internationally, other operators are meeting our needs.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
21 Aug 2014
Total posts 503
I would say Perth travellers deserve all these new planes especially because of QF pulling out, Qantas should learn their lesson, talking about MEL, we do have a few 787 operators, more than Sydney I think.
Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer
06 Feb 2014
Total posts 69
Not begruding Perth getting the dreamliners , but surprised that a much bigger city would not get these state of the art aircraft. Would be quite happy with the 747 -8 or the next gen 777-ER. The 20 inch wide business class seat does not really impress me though , so it's probably just as well that Perth is getting them. I think I'll stick to SQ /TG or QF!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
16 Jul 2014
Total posts 20
Your lucky in Melbourne having the option to fly internationally with QF and I fear that Qantas will have a hard time returning to Perth (International) (If they ever do) because of airlines like China Southern Bringing next gen jets to Perth such as the 787
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
19 Feb 2014
Total posts 444
Think you're comparing apples with oranges when comparing two different sized cities (2 mill vs 5.5mill) when they've several thousands of km apart for a medium sized airliner...
Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer
06 Feb 2014
Total posts 69
Very surprising that Qantas pulled out of Perth . I would have thought that
it would be a good international growth market for them .
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
16 Jul 2014
Total posts 20
Yes so did everyone in WA, dissapointing really but they will come back.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
03 Jul 2011
Total posts 186
Bit like here in ADL, QF pulls its only international flight to SIN, and look SIA now run two a day!
Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer
06 Feb 2014
Total posts 69
Interesting to hear that Qantas has pulled out of Adelaide to Singapore as well. SQ has been capitalizing on this in a big way. SQ flights to the Indian subcontinent in peak periods are full from almost every Australian City( with upto 3 flights a day!). Qantas could easily grab a big share of this huge market by increasing flights to Singapore and introducing some non stop flights to the Indian subcontinent.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
19 Feb 2014
Total posts 444
4x daily from Perth with SQ
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