China Southern to Launch 787 Flights from Wuhan to San Francisco

China Southern Airlines, China's largest carrier in terms of both fleet size and passenger traffic, announced to launch Guangzhou-Wuhan-San Francisco service from Dec. 16, 2014, which will be the first direct air route linking Central China and West Coast of the U.S.

The Guangzhou-based carrier will operate the new long-haul flight thrice weekly every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, using Boeing 787 Dreamliners. The outbound flight CZ659 is scheduled to take off from Guangzhou at 8:30 p.m. and arrive in San Francisco at 8:15 p.m. , with a stopover at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport (WUH) from 10:25 p.m. to 0:05 a.m. the next day; while the return flight CZ660 will depart from the U.S. city at 0:15 a.m. and land in Guangzhou at 9:30 a.m., with a stopover at WUH from 6:15 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. (all local time).

China Southern's 787 Dreamliner features a classic 3-class configuration with 228 seats - 4 in first class, 24 in business class and another 200 in economy class. Each seat is equipped with a universal laptop power port, noise-cancelling headphones and a 17-inch screen.

As of June 18, the Guangzhou-based carrier has taken delivery of all 10 787s that it ordered. The airline deploys 787s on its domestic and international services to meet air travel demand during the peak period, helping it further expand its route network.