Out of curiosity, why is everyone claiming that China Southern is a "third-tier" airline? Is there anything more than the fact that China is in the airlines name backing this up?

According to the webpage that our new friend "650" posted, China Southern has had three major accidents since 1982. One of those involved a hijacked plane crashing into their plane, so I wouldn't exactly think that was their fault.

China Souther is also committed to improving it's safety record as much as any airline it would appear, as evidenced by this:

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/990225/china_so_a_1.html

They also appear to have a modern fleet of both Boeing and Airbus aircraft (I can't find though whether they operate any Russian types, but I have found reference to 737's, 757's, 777's, and A320's being delivered/used).

The accident last week was not China Southern, but China Southwest.