Direct flights between Christchurch and Guangzhou will resume later this year.

The president of China Southern Airlines announced the airline’s return this week and says the service that was paused during the pandemic will re-start on 10 November with three flights a week.

It was not only awards that were celebrated when China Southern Airlines hosted its top sellers at Red Wall Chinese restaurant in Auckland last Thursday night. It was also an opportunity for a product update and a celebration that CZ’s 12% increase in capacity his year has resulted in a 15% increase in passenger numbers on the Auckland-Guangzhou route.

CZ's Top Selling Agency Groups were Worldwide Holidays, helloworld, Flight Centre, Global Travel Network and China Travel Service.

The Most improved Agency was Aspire Travel Group and STA Travel picked up the Best Global Partner award.

Top Corporate Agencies were Orbit Auckland and  APX. GTN was most improved.

The Top Online Travel Agencies were ByoJet Travel and Feijipiao.co.nz.

Top Selling Brokers were Aspire Travel Group and Fine Travel.

Top Selling Agency Stores were  Worldwide Holidays Northcote, Worldwide Holidays East Tamaki, China Travel Service Queen St, Flight Centre Auckland Airport, and House of Travel Brandon.

The Best Non-Branded Travel Agency Group was Mann Travel.

The Top Selling Consultant was Iris Xu, Worldwide Holidays Northcote.

The major business card draw for an air and land package to Guangzhou was won by Will Jia from STA Travel.

• Lily Wang, China Southern (CZ)... Lily Wang, China Southern (CZ)...
• Eason He, CZ; Sunita Shalivahan,... Eason He, CZ; Sunita Shalivahan,...
• Aspire Travel’s Phuong Ngu and... Aspire Travel’s Phuong Ngu and...
• Jack Walshe, helloworld and Jono... Jack Walshe, helloworld and Jono...
• Natasha Thompson, Fine Travel and... Natasha Thompson, Fine Travel and...
• House of Travel’s Kylie Downer... House of Travel’s Kylie Downer...
• Lily Wang, CZ (centre) with... Lily Wang, CZ (centre) with...
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Discovering Guangzhou via a free stopover package will be a key message to travel agents as China Southern amps up its trade sales efforts.