He Zongkai at Sydney Festival.

China Southern at Summer Sounds Sydney Festival.

China Southern Airlines used its sponsorship of the 36th Sydney Festival to announce it had extended its Canton Route to the rest of the world.

Speaking at Sydney Festival’s popular Summer Sounds in the Domain concert on Saturday night, China Southern Executive Vice-President Mr He Zongkai declared that the term Canton Route now applied to the airline’s vast international network which reaches 1000 destinations in 187 countries and regions through its SkyTeam alliance.

At last year’s festival, the airline successfully launched its new Canton Route from Australia to London and Europe via its modern hub in southern China, Guangzhou (old Canton).

“I am very pleased to announce that we will increase the Canton Route to the world this year,” Mr He said.

“We will adopt the world’s most advanced aircraft to operate our Australian and European routes and invite Australians to sample our true Cantonese hospitality on their next overseas journey.

“Australia is our key overseas market and China Southern Airlines is proud to be the largest operator of the sino-Australian routes in mainland China.”

Speaking to 40 thousand festival goers at the weekend, Mr He said China Southern was delighted to again be the official airline of Sydney Festival, a role it had locked in for at least the next two years.
The China Southern ferry will again participate in the Australia Day ferrython and the airline will also sponsor several Chinese operas being performed at the Opera House as part of this year’s festival.