China Southern Airlines announced December 5 two new lines, Guangzhou-Melbourne-Sydney and Guangzhou-Sydney, will be open to service on December 6, marking the first direct flight to Australia starting from Guangzhou, capital of southern China's Guangdong Province.

Southern Airlines will be enabled with the new lines to extend its flight service to another continent after America and Europe and this is also part of Southern Airlines' efforts to actively join in the global aviation community, said Yang Zhiqing, president of the Group

(People’s Daily 12/07/2000)