China Southern Airlines cracks 44 Million Passengers Mark in 2005

China Southern Airlines flew a record 44.12 Million passengers in 2005, marking the largest single year passenger total carried in the airline’s 27 year history. The airline's cargo volume grew 42% to 774,550 metric tons in 2005.

For all of 2005, China Southern’s remarkable traffic growth can not only be attributed to the complete integration of its mergers with the former China Northern Airlines and Urumqi-based Xinjiang Airlines, the addition of all new Airbus and Boeing aircraft, as well as the rapidly developing domestic Chinese marketplace, but also the swift development of the new Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport which managed more than 20 Million passengers in its first year of operation. Constructed at a cost of more than $3 Billion, the new Baiyun International Airport is China Southern Airlines home base of operations.

In 2005, China Southern’s overall load factor also rose from 69.2% (in 2004) to 70.1%. In December 2005 alone, China Southern carried 63% more passengers than the same month in 2004 - 3.4 Million passengers - which was up 2 Million passengers from December 2004.

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