China Southern Airlines Safely Flies NYC/Beijing Polar Test Run
No Problem For Boeing 777 Over North Pole
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 24, 2001--China Southern Airlines (NYSE:ZNH - news; HKSE:1055), the largest airline in the People's Republic of China, announced that it safely conducted a demonstration flight on a polar routing from New York City (JFK) to Beijing Capital Airport using its long-range Boeing 777 aircraft.

The aircraft, crammed with technicians from Boeing, CAAC and China Southern departed from New York City at 01:13 a.m. (Beijing Time) on July 15, and traversed north over the United States, Canada, the North Pole, Russia's Far East and Mongolia before safely touching down 14 hours later at Beijing Capital Airport.

A North Polar route refers to flights over the North Pole area along a longitudinal direction, connecting North American metropolitan cities with their Asian counterparts. The current Sino-U.S. transpacific air routes are along a latitudinal direction moving West/East around the Earth.

China Southern Airlines has always looked at a North Polar service with keen interest.

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