China Southern Airlines

1 · POSITION

China Southern lays out its A380 for 506 seats, with eight first-class suites in the main cabin and seventy business seats above. A cabin-industry account of the interior gives the first-class brand as Platinum and records that the airline specified Contour’s Venus suite. Walls 1.52m high enclose each place, and the seat converts to a fully flat bed 80in long and 32in wide. A minibar, a locking luggage cabinet and a 23in monitor are fitted. [2, 3]

2 · THE SCHEME CAME FROM THE AIRCRAFT MAKER

The same account states that the airline worked with Airbus’s own design studio on the overall cabin scheme and did not engage a third-party design agency. Decorative film on the sidewalls of the first and business cabins draws on the airline’s kapok flower emblem with diamond and crystal motifs. Six lighting scenarios and a fibre-optic ceiling complete the interior. The first aircraft was handed over in October 2011 and named Pearl of the Sky. [3]

3 · THE SEAT STATED IN INCHES

The airline’s own page describes an annular placement of seats creating an independent private room, with each seat pitched at 87in, 75in or 85in long and 24in wide, and a personal table of 16in by 7in. A minibar, shoe stowage and a satellite telephone with a 1.9in display sit within reach. The trade account records seventy lie-flat seats in a staggered 1-2-1 layout and puts only the non-aisle seats at 87in pitch. [1, 3]

4 · BARS, GALLEYS AND A TEA CEREMONY

Bars are installed at the front of the first-class cabin, and the trade account describes a meal service delivered from no fewer than nineteen galleys by twenty-one cabin attendants. The airline lists wines selected by its sommeliers, freshly made espresso and cappuccino, and a washroom that can be quickly enlarged to two square metres. Before the flight it offers porter service, a separate security passage and a lounge. [1, 3]

5 · ⚑ CANDOUR

⚑ Only one date is established here, the October 2011 handover; the register’s founding year of 1988 is its own and no fetched page supports it. The two sources differ on pitch, the airline quoting 87in for every seat and the trade account restricting that figure to non-aisle seats; both are reported, not reconciled. Everything described belongs to one aircraft type, and the airline notes the configuration may change by flight. The page published at the airline’s first-class address describes the business cabin. [1–3]